ODFW: Balloon Tree Pack Responsible For Multiple Union County Depredations

Crews with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife were called to multiple depredations of goats in Union County over the past week plus. On Thursday, the 18^th, a producer found two injured and four deceased female goats in a 44-acre private land grass pasture within 400 yards of his house. The dead goats, three adults, one yearling, ranged in weight from 30-50 lbs.

Very little tissue remained on two of the carcasses, the other two were intact. A 30 lb. yearling had an injured right hindquarter, and a younger 20 lb. goat had a back injury. The estimated date and time of the deaths and injuries was the early morning of 11/18/2021.

The four deceased goats were shaved, skinned, and examined. Tooth punctures ¼" diameter corresponding with pre-mortem hemorrhage with depth ranging from 1"-2" was observed on all four carcasses. The locations of the premortem injuries were found on the throat, hindquarters above hocks, near elbows, and on back. One live goat had two ¼ inch tooth punctures on the left side of back. The other goat had bite wounds to the upper right hind leg. The Balloon Tree Pack breeding female’s GPS radio-collar data placed her inside the pasture at 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. the same morning the goats were attacked. The locations and depth of injuries are consistent with wolf depredations. These depredations have been attributed to the Balloon Tree Pack.

And then on the morning of Saturday the 20^th, a ranch owner found two dead adult sheep in his private pastureland. The ranch owner let the sheep owner know that the two sheep, weighing over 150 pounds each, had wandered on to his ranch. The carcass of one ewe was intact with all muscle tissue remaining, the second ewe had muscle tissue at the neck and head and most of the hide remaining. It was estimated that the sheep died on the night of 11/18/2021.

The ewes were skinned and examined. Premortem hemorrhage was found on hide or muscle tissue on both sheep on the neck and above the hocks on each hind leg, with some hemorrhage 1"-2" deep in muscle tissue. A canine bite spacing two inches apart with scrapes ¼" wide were found on the hide of one sheep. Two GPS locations placed the breeding female of the Balloon Tree Pack within 150 and 400 yards of both carcasses overnight on 11/18/2021. The bite scrape size, depth of tissue trauma, location of injuries, and coordinates of wolf activity are consistent with the depredation of these sheep by wolves.

These depredations have also been attributed to the Balloon Tree Pack

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