Idaho farmer says wolves killed his Great Pyrenees

IDAHO -- The owner of a dog recently killed by wolves wants something to be done to protect animals from wolves. This attack happened in the same area as another attack just a few months ago.

Both happened in northern Gem County near Sage Hen Reservoir.

The attacks have the attention of Wildlife Services and Fish and Game.

Chisolm and Tom Blessinger have been together for the past nine years.

"He was my best buddy," said Blessinger.

The 150-pound Great Pyrenees was Blessinger's guard dog to protect their sheep and cattle from wolves.

On Monday, July 14, there were no sheep or cattle when Blessinger took Chisolm up to the Sage Hen area to meet with the Forest Service. They were inspecting water tanks in the area. On this hot day, Chisolm ran off.

 

"When he didn't show back up I wasn't too concerned because he had been there before and I figured he'd go right on down the creek. He had shade and water," said Blessinger.

But minutes turned to hours.

"I whistled and hollered and we waited a while for him," said Blessinger.
 
And hours eventually turned to days. On Wednesday, someone found Chisolm dead just 20 feet from a road and a half mile from a campground.

"It was bad, on account when you see those pictures you'll understand why," said Blessinger.

Despite wolves in the area, Blessinger says Chisolm has never had a run-in with wolves before, but he has killed two coyotes on separate occasions.

 

"I know he could have handled his own if he had one [wolf], but where there was one that ganged him up on the front and one the rear end, they just killed him," said Blessinger.

In April, wolves killed a calf in the same area and in a similar way.

"It has been the practice since wolves were reintroduced to remove them when they get into trouble with agriculture," said Fish and Game Regional Manager Craig White.

White says crews tried to trap the wolves after the calf was killed, but were unsuccessful. He says the plan is to try again.

If caught, the wolves could be collared and tracked or even euthanized.

Fish and Game tracks wolf movement from year to year. To date there have been no confirmed wolf sightings south of the Snake River Plains. That means anything to the north is wolf country.

"We've got too many wolves up there and I'd like to see this special pack eliminated," said Blessinger.

This dog attack is the second time this year wolves have been confirmed to kill a dog. In 2013, it happened four times.

Blessinger is worried that the next step is wolves killing people.

Wolves have killed humans in the past in other parts of the country, but Fish and Game says that hasn't happened since wolves were reintroduced in Idaho.

"People are underestimating," said Blessinger. "This wolf is the top of the food chain and they're not scared of anything."

There have been a few times in the last 40 years that a wolf killed a human in either Canada or the U.S.

"There's nothing in the behavior of a wolf that leads me to believe that a child would be any more susceptible than an adult," said White.

White says when we see wolves start to live on our garbage and begin to behave like domesticated dogs then we should be concerned. So far, he says he has not seen wolves behaving this way in Idaho.

(KTVB - July 22, 2014)