By Katy Nesbitt

Wallowa Valley Online

ENTERPRISE, Ore – Two wolves found dead north of Wallowa this summer are thought to have been the Sled Springs breeding pair.

OR-21, a female collared wolf, originally from the Wenaha Pack, was found by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists in late August when her GPS collar sent out a “mortality” signal. A male was found the following day by Kreg Coggins, an Oregon State Police trooper and game officer.

Coggins said the male wolf was found 50 yards from where the female wolf was found and five yards from a road.

Both wolves were gray in color, Coggins said, and discovered on Hancock Timber grazing land.

Mike Hansen, assistant biologist for the Enterprise District, said a mortality signal can be emitted in two ways.

“The tone of the radio collar changes when the signal is picked up by a radio receiver,” Hansen said. “You can hear the VHF radio beeps.”

The collar has a built-in timer and mercury tip switch, Hansen said. When a collared animal moves, it tips the switch, when it does not move for four hours and the switch isn’t tripped, the collar send out a mortality signal. A wolf doesn’t sleep or stay in one position for more than four hours.

Hansen said the GPS collars have a separate mechanism to alert biologists. GPS collars send out signals every few hours, depending on how it is set. In the case of the Sled Springs female wolf, her collar sent a different type of signal when she hadn’t moved for a while and notified Russ Morgan, Oregon’s wolf biologist.

Coggins said he found the male wolf the following day.

I went out there because Fish and Wildlife had found the one and I was looking for any obvious signs of foul play,” Coggins said.

Both wolves had been dead for an undetermined amount of time when found, Coggins said.

“I did a necropsy of what was left (of the wolf). It’s pretty difficulty when decomposed to that degree,” Coggins said.

Hansen said biologists believe the Sled Springs pair, first identified in Jan. 2015, had pups.

“Radio signals indicated this spring they were in a den situation,” Hansen said.

He said there have been eyewitness reports of pups, but no photographic evidence, yet.

Hansen said the female wolf was collared as a young wolf in 2012, so would have been about four years old.

Both wolves were sent to a lab for DNA analysis to determine cause of death. The investigation is ongoing, Coggins said.

The Oregon State Police is seeking the public’s help and requesting anyone who may have information regarding this incident to contact Senior Trooper Kreg Coggins at 541-426-3049 or call the TIP Hotline at 1-800-452-788 or TIP E-Mail TIP@state.or.us.

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