Two female wolves in the Profanity Peak pack in northeastern Washington have been killed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop depredations on livestock, the department said today.
WDFW is continuing to hunt for more wolves in the pack and has not revealed how many it plans to shoot. WDFW says it does not plan to eliminate the pack entirely.
The two wolves, which included the pack’s breeding female, were shot from a helicopter on Aug. 5. The department maintained a news blackout on the wolf killings until Aug. 11.
Before the shootings, the pack had six adults and five pups. The pups are old enough to have been weaned, so the shooting of their mother should not affect their survival, according to WDFW wolf policy coordinator Donny Martorello.
The surviving adults should provide food for the pups, he stated in an email.
Shooters are unable to distinguish different members of the pack, he said.
WDFW declined to disclose more details while the hunt for wolves continues.
WDFW Director Jim Unsworth authorized lethal removal Aug. 3 after the department confirmed the pack was responsible for killing three calves and one cow this summer. Later that day, WDFW investigators confirmed the pack had killed a fourth calf.
State policy calls for WDFW to consider lethal removal after a pack kills or injures four livestock, despite efforts by the rancher to stop the depredations by non-lethal measures, such as increasing human presence around the herd.
According to Martorello, livestock producers in the pack’s range in Ferry County are continuing to prevent wolf attacks by using range riders. WDFW has received no report of depredations since the operation to cull the pack began, he stated.
This is the third time the state has shot wolves to stop depredations on livestock.
One wolf was shot in the Huckleberry pack in 2014 and seven in the Wedge Pack in 2012. The wolf shot in 2014 was the pack’s breeding female, intensifying the criticism directed at the department by some wolf advocates.
WDFW, with the counsel of its Wolf Advisory Group, recently revised it lethal-removal policy, hoping to clarify what ranchers are expected to do to prevent depredations and what the department will do if those measures fail.
The new policy also states WDFW will give only weekly reports during lethal-removal operations.
Martorello said the department doesn’t expect to give another report until Aug. 17.
WDFW says the policy protects the safety of the public, ranchers and department employees.
WDFW enlisted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services in 2012 and 2014 to shoot wolves.
This time, WDFW is carrying out the operation. A federal judge ruled the federal agency can’t lethally remove wolves without a more thorough review of the environmental impact.
Wolves are not a federally protected species in the eastern one-third of Washington, where the Profanity Peak wolves were shot. Wolves are a state-protected species throughout Washington, but the state’s wolf management policy allows for lethal removal to stop depredations.
Washington’s wolf population, estimated at 90 at the end of 2015, is mostly concentrated in the northeastern corner of the state.