DNR investigates the massive killing of livestock in Bruce Crossing.
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BRUCE CROSSING -- Four days after what one Bruce Crossing couple calls the worst depredation on their farm yet, Sandra Augustine and Daniel Haltug are still finding dead livestock, feathers, and cracked eggs strewn around their yard.
"Most of them were around the pond,” said Haltug. “They were scattered all over the front yard. They were scattered in the field. There were dead ones on the road and the backyard. They were everywhere."
Augustine was on her way to work Thursday morning when she discovered that all 38 of her geese and 11 of her ducks had been killed.
"I came out into the garage to get into my Jeep and Dan noticed feathers out in the yard,” explained Augustine. “He said something must have gotten munched because there are feathers all over. I walked out further to look towards the pond to see if my geese were ok, and they were all dead."
That night their suspicions were confirmed…a pack of wolves returned to their farm to feed on their kill.
The DNR believes older wolves were teaching their young how to hunt. “Sometimes this is the easy alternative for them to wild prey,” said the wolf coordinator for the DNR, Brian Roell. “So that's the reason in this case we decided that euthanasia is necessary.”
They’ve set up over a dozen traps around the area and have so far caught two wolves. Yet, the DNR is reassuring residents they have nothing to worry about.
"There's never been a human-related wolf conflict or aggressive wolf in the lower 48 states,” Roell insisted.
Augustine and Haltug aren’t so sure.
"My grandchildren could be out playing in the yard and who knows? We've seen one in the daytime, so you never know when they may come,” Augustine claimed.
The DNR advises farmers to report if they are experiencing this problem to them at 1-800-292-7800.
