There may be no more difficult job than wildlife biologist, especially when it comes to managing wolves.

It’s hard enough just to count them. Every year the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife offers its best estimate of how many wolves live in the state, but it’s only a minimum number. Last year, at least 178 wolves were recorded.

While most wolves mind their own business and stay in the deep woods, others find their way to populated areas, including those places where livestock graze and people live.

That’s where the problems start.

Wolves are excellent hunters. When they find sheep or cattle, they help themselves.

This creates a huge problem not only for ranchers, but for environmentalists, many of whom think no wolves should ever be killed.

That describes the situation in parts of Oregon, Washington state and Idaho. Environmentalists attack wildlife managers nearly every time they try to actually manage wolves. The radicals even run to court to stop any decisions that don’t align with their wishes.

In northeastern Oregon, the situation is especially critical. The town of Lostine has a population of 250 people and even more cattle and sheep. Wallowa County, which includes Lostine, has 62 wolves. That’s more than one-third of the state’s total wolf population.

Last year, 62 of the 73 confirmed livestock killings were in Eastern Oregon, according to John Williams, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association wolf committee co-chairman for Eastern Oregon.

Wolves are also getting bolder. A Lostine resident reported that a wolf attacked her sheep 25 feet from the back porch where she was sleeping.

Another wolf attacked livestock a quarter-mile from downtown.

ODFW managers have approved a permit to kill two wolves in the Lostine area.

We have to wonder how effective that would be. At least some wolves are becoming habituated to people, and we wonder whether killing two out of 62 wolves in the county would accomplish much.

This appears to be a case where managers need to identify the pack responsible for the attacks and consider removing it. That would reduce the wolf crowding in the county and give the people of Lostine some security.

“People in Lostine never thought this would happen to them,” said Todd Nash, Wallowa County commissioner and past president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association.

Decisive action on the part of wildlife managers would help them return to normal.