Sharp: Delisting Of Wolf Great News For Oregon Cattle Producers

In late October, the Interior Department announced plans to remove the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List, and turn management over to the states and tribal government. Tom Sharp President of the Oregon Cattlemen’s association attended last month’s announcement, and said this is good news for local producers for a variety of reasons. He added the hope is that the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will draw alongside those most impacted by wolf depredations to ensure the needs of producers are met. And that means managing wolf pack populations in known areas of depredation.

“I project that the Rouge Pack area will be one of those areas of concentrated depredation that were going to be asking ODFW to be able to utilize lethal take, which means go in and some of those wolves will be taken out of the pack to try disturb their activity levels.”

Sharp added nothing will change management wise through the end of December. And, several conservation groups have already announced their plans to sue the federal government over the decision, saying the population of the wolf is not where it need to be to be delisted.

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