BAKER CITY, Ore. — Federal employees killed two wolves from the Balloon Tree pack in northern Union County on Oct. 17 after state biologists confirmed that wolves from the pack had killed 12 sheep on private land north of Elgin the previous week.

Wolves killed four ewes and eight lambs on a 2,200-acre pasture in the Cabin Creek area around Oct. 11, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

That followed two other attacks by wolves from the pack, on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, that killed two ewes and three lambs and injured a dog that was protecting the sheep, according to ODFW.

On Oct. 4 the agency authorized employees from a federal agency, Wildlife Services, to kill up to two wolves from the Balloon Tree pack. The permit was valid for private land near the sheep band that had been attacked.

The sheep owner employed a herder who was with the sheep day and night and had guardian dogs as well as devices to try to frighten wolves, according to ODFW.

The agency confirmed wolves from the pack attached sheep or dogs in the area north of Elgin on four times since Sept. 30.

In addition to the attacks in the Cabin Creek area, wolves killed a lamb on Oct. 8 near Darr Road.

According to ODFW, the Balloon Tree pack’s breeding pair produced at least four pups in the spring of 2023 that were still alive at the end of 2023. There were at least seven wolves in the pack at the end of 2023. The pair had pups for the first time in 2020.

Other recent attacks

ODFW confirmed that wolves from the Frazier Mountain pack, which has a range in southern Union County near Medical Springs, attacked cattle on Oct. 6 and 9 on a large public land grazing allotment near the Powder River. Wolves killed an adult cow and an 8-month-old calf in separate attacks.