Wolves circle calves

by Cat Urbigkit

One Wyoming Range livestock producer has his first bad encounter with wolves two weeks ago at Jon Malinski's High Lonesome Ranch at the head of South Cottonwood Creek.

Lyman Clark said in an interview that the ranch lost four calves in two nights earlier this month. The third time the wolves returned, Clark said he had just finishing feeding, and saw the pack "had a bunch of calves in the willows."

"They had the calves in a circle," Clark said. "They were working them, playing that game, getting ready to kill.'

Clark jumped on his snowmachine and raced to the scene.

"I ran them off," Clark said, with two gray wolves jumping the fence to escape, while he chased a third gray animal through the meadow and off the property. He chased the grays over the next hill as well, he said.

Clark didn't contact federal officials for several days, but once contacted, USDA Wildlife Services arrived on the scene in less than two hours, Clark said. There was little left of the calves, with the exception of one carcass. In that case, the mother cow had apparently circled over the top of the calf as the wolves attacked, stomping the calf to death in the process. Clark said while the wolves hadn't actually left a tooth mark in that calf, they were certainly responsible for its death.

"You could see the whole story in the snow," he said.

Since then, Clark said he's moved the cow herd closer to the house, but the wolves haven't returned yet.

"I'm sure they will," he said.