BEAR VALLEY — A sheep has been killed by wolves in southern Grant County, state wildlife managers announced.

The dead adult ewe was found on private land northeast of Seneca and the case was investigated Sept. 30, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a news release.

Investigators have confirmed the Bear Valley wolves killed the animal.

The deadly attack was the eighth confirmed wolf depredation in Grant County this year and the third attributed to the Bear Valley group.

A depredation on Sept. 27 that resulted in one injured and one dead ewe also was attributed to the Bear Valley wolves. Ryan Torland, a district wildlife biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the same producer was the victim in both incidents.

“They were using nonlethal (deterrence) prior to the depredation incidents,” Torland said. “After the first depredation they took additional non-lethal steps and then after the second depredation they again took additional non-lethal actions.”

The Bear Valley wolves are responsible for four depredations across three separate incidents over the past three months according to Torland. With the wolf plan stating that there has to be 2 confirmed depredations, in separate events, over a nine month period before a lethal take can be authorized, Torland said the agency hasn’t yet decided on a lethal take option.

“ODFW is currently evaluating lethal take options. No decision has been made yet,” Torland said. “Lethal take is being considered.”

A juvenile male belonging to the Logan Valley Pack was killed by ODFW staff on Aug. 24. The agency had hoped to take out the pack’s breeding adult male but removed a 63-pound juvenile instead.

The action was authorized after a string of depredations by the Logan Valley Pack, whose territory runs in an arc from the upper John Day Valley south from near Prairie City and west into the Logan Valley.

The Logan Valley wolves had been blamed in four confirmed depredations since May.

In mid-May, a wolf from the Logan Valley Pack was shot and killed by an unknown person on private land adjacent to County Road 62, about 11 miles southwest of Prairie City. That incident is under investigation.