Wolfpack crosses line for WDFW to consider lethal control

Published 1:00 pm Monday, August 21, 2023

ASOTIN COUNTY, Wash. — A wolfpack has killed five calves and one heifer in the past three months in southeast Washington, forcing the Department of Fish and Wildlife to consider lethally removing wolves.

Fish and Wildlife confirmed the most-recent predation Aug. 15. Department staff members will discuss what to do and hoped to make a recommendation Aug. 21 to Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind, spokeswoman Staci Lehman said.

When Fish and Wildlife resorts to lethal control to change “pack behavior,” it typically kills one or two wolves. Lethal removal is most-effective if done within seven days of a predation, according to the department.

Pack came from Oregon

The unnamed pack was formed when a female collared wolf, WA139, left the Tucannon pack’s territory in southeast Washington and crossed into Oregon in late January.

The wolf was likely joined by other wolves from the pack and spent most of February and some of March in Northeast Oregon. The pack has four or five adults and an unknown number of pups, Lehman said.

While in Oregon, the pack killed seven cattle and injured one. An Oregon rancher, who was issued a kill permit by the state, shot one wolf in the pack March 19 in Wallowa County.

The pack has been in Washington since last April, according to Fish and Wildlife.

Fish and Wildlife determined May 21 the pack killed two calves and probably killed a third calf on private land in Asotin County. The department counted the three mortalities as one incident.

The department also confirmed the pack killed a heifer June 20 on private land and a calf July 31 on a U.S. Forest Service grazing allotment.

The pack didn’t cross the threshold for the Fish and Wildlife to consider lethal removal until the Aug. 15 predation, which the department counted as the fourth incident.

The department will consider killing wolves after three incidents in 30 days or, as in this case, four incidents in 10 months. Fish and Wildlife has not lethally removed a wolf this year.

New wolf pack kills calves in southeast Washington

Wolf culled in NE Oregon after four cows were killed in three days

Marketplace