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Lake County commissioners report recent wolf depredations, urge reporting as removal request reaches federal level
Summary
Vice‑Chair Barry Shullanberger told the board March 19 that a wolf designated OR158 has been linked to livestock losses across multiple counties and that the county’s request to remove OR158 has gone to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior; Chair Mark Albertson urged statewide delisting and raised constitutional concerns about partial delisting.
Vice‑Chair Barry Shullanberger told the Lake County Board of Commissioners March 19 that livestock producers and state and federal officials had met to discuss wolf depredations linked to a wolf designated OR158.
Shullanberger said OR158 was originally collared in Baker County, had been involved in a livestock kill as a one‑year‑old there, traveled into Modoc County, California, attempted to join a pack, then continued moving through multiple Oregon counties. He said county requests to remove the wolf had been escalated to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. He also reported new presumed wolf kills the previous day in the Fort Rock area and relayed District Wildlife Biologist Jon Muir’s reminder to preserve and report any suspected livestock kills.
Chair Mark Albertson said he was working with state representatives to seek delisting of the gray wolf across all of Oregon and argued that delisting in some parts of the state but not others raised equal‑protection concerns; he read part of the 14th Amendment aloud during his remarks. Albertson and Shullanberger both said non‑lethal hazing techniques had not deterred OR158.
There were no recorded formal actions, motions or votes on wolf policy at the March 19 meeting. The Board indicated further meetings with livestock producers are anticipated.
Context: Shullanberger also mentioned state and federal staff participation at the producers’ meeting and credited Kessina Lee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with help getting information to the Secretary of the Interior.
