Wolf’s attack on horses cut short

One of rancher Casey Tippett’s cattle-working saddle horses continues on the job after catching a lucky break a couple of weeks ago. According to Tippett, the horse was one of four that was attacked in a pasture early in the evening on May 24. Fortunately, another rancher in the area, Duane Voss, was driving by at the time of the attack, and the wolf broke it off and fled as Voss’s rig approached. Voss quickly found someone in the local area who had Tippett’s phone number. Tippett, contacted at his Enterprise home, reached the scene in less than an hour. Not far behind him were Wallowa County Commissioner Susan Roberts and Marlyn Riggs, USDA Wildlife Services’ local investigator of predator-related incidents. Riggs and Tippett inspected all four horses the wolf had chased, but only one – a tall Quarter Horse gelding – appeared to have undergone physical contact from the predator. There were welts running vertically down the animal’s right flank...more