Agency considers wolf action

[denali]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/aug/07/agency-considers-wolf-action/


A calf injured in a wolf attack in northern Stevens County – the fourth wounded or killed in one cattle herd in four weeks – has left the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department contemplating a response, including killing one or more wolves in the Wedge Pack.

“All options are on the table,” Madonna Luers, the agency’s spokeswoman in Spokane, said Monday.


The incident, which apparently happened Thursday, is the latest of several confirmed wolf attacks on the Diamond M Ranch herd near Laurier. The ranch has a Colville National Forest grazing lease in the “wedge” of land just south of Canada between the Columbia and Kettle Rivers.

In mid-July, officials confirmed that wolves had injured a cow and calf and killed another calf from the northern Stevens County ranch.

The Diamond M Ranch is owned by the McIrvin family. In 2007, the ranch also suffered Washington’s first documented wolf livestock depredation in roughly 70 years.

Last year, state officials adopted a wolf management plan to deal with expanding wolf packs, which remain protected by state endangered species laws.

“This latest attack is a continuation of a pattern of wolf-livestock problems in the wedge,” Luers said. “The wolf plan allows several possible responses, including lethal removal, in cases of repeated depredation after other methods have been tried.”

The response may be decided today, she said.

A Fish and Wildlife Department trapper caught an adult male wolf, attached a radio-transmitter collar, and released it following earlier wolf attacks on the ranch.

A pup also was caught and released, confirming the pack produced a litter this year.

[Elk329]

looks like they took a little more action

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

August 7, 2012
Contacts: Nate Pamplin, (360) 902-2693
Dave Ware, (360) 902-2509

WDFW removes wolf from NE Washington pack
in response to repeated attacks on livestock

OLYMPIA - State wildlife managers today killed a wolf from a pack that has repeatedly preyed on livestock in a remote area of northeast Washington for the past five years.

Acting under the terms of the state's 2011 Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) took lethal action after a series of wolf attacks on the Diamond M herd, whose owners graze about 400 head of cattle in an area known as the Wedge near the Canadian border. The attacks left one calf dead, five cows or calves injured and at least two missing since mid-July.

The wolf removed today was identified as a non-breeding female member of the Wedge pack. It was shot this morning by department staff in the area where an attack on livestock had occurred in July. Department staff planned to remain in the area through Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to remove a second wolf.

WDFW Director Phil Anderson said the decision to take lethal action was made only after the department determined that the action would not adversely affect wolf recovery objectives.

He also said the department had tried a variety of non-lethal efforts to protect livestock from attacks by the Wedge pack. Efforts included using specialized electric fencing to protect calves this spring; attaching a radio collar to the pack's alpha male; and maintaining a regular human presence in the area.

In addition, the livestock operator employs five cowboys to frequently check on the herd, which consists of 210 cow-calf pairs.

"These ranchers live and work in an area with the highest concentration of wolves in the state," said Anderson, who had visited the Diamond M ranch following wolf attacks on livestock in July. "The wolf plan is designed to support the recovery of wolves, but it also outlines specific strategies to minimize livestock losses."

The plan, approved last December by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission after five years of public involvement, specifically authorizes WDFW to take lethal measures to address repeated attacks on livestock. The plan states that when lethal removal is necessary, one or two wolves may be removed initially.

Several wolf-related incidents have been documented in the range of the Wedge pack, including:

In 2007, wolves killed two calves from the Diamond M herd.
Since then, livestock operators have reported wolf presence in the area and higher-than-normal calf losses.
Earlier this year, WDFW documented wolf activity around a calving operation.
In July, wolves killed one calf and injured a cow and another calf. Later, two other injured calves were found and confirmed to have been attacked by wolves. The rancher also observed two additional injured calves but was not able to capture them.
Last week, a calf was found with a laceration and bite mark that wildlife managers determined were the result of a wolf attack.
"Our goal in taking today's action was to reduce the size of the pack and break the pattern of predation," said Nate Pamplin, assistant WDFW wildlife director. "We can't guarantee that today's action will prevent future attacks by this pack, but we have clear indications that non-lethal actions alone are unlikely to reduce predation on livestock."

Pamplin said the WDFW staff would remain in the area through Wednesday morning in an attempt to remove a second wolf. He said the department would re-evaluate its options later this week.

Gray wolves are classified as "endangered" under Washington state law, but are no longer protected in the eastern third of the state under the federal Endangered Species Act. The state's wolf plan sets population recovery objectives and outlines methods for minimizing wolf-livestock conflicts.

As of July, wildlife biologists had confirmed eight wolf packs within the state and suspect there are four additional packs based on public reports and observed tracks. The number of confirmed packs represents an increase from two in 2010, indicating that the wolf population is rebounding, which also increases the potential for wolf-livestock conflict.

"Parts of northeast Washington are extremely rugged and remote, and the region borders areas of Idaho and Canada that already support large numbers of wolves, so it's not surprising that wolves have re-established themselves more quickly here than in other parts of the state," Anderson said. "But our wolf recovery strategy is a statewide plan that also permits us to minimize wolf-livestock conflict that could undermine public support for the long-term recovery effort."

# # #

Note to editors and reporters: For public safety and security reasons, WDFW is not facilitating on-site coverage of this wolf management activity. To arrange interviews with WDFW Director Phil Anderson, please contact Bruce Botka, public affairs and outreach manager, at 360-902-2262.

[rasbo]

well thats good news..Put management to work,sooner the better..

[Huntbear]

Now.. if we can just shoot about 200 a year... we will be on target ......

[saylean]

My kingdom for a wolf rug.

[CAMPMEAT]

I just love seeing these 360 prefixes. They are over in Olympia where they are not in the know. 2nd hand news. Why isn't Spokane taking care of this and relaying the news to the media ? Olympia is 400 miles from there and Colville is 40 miles away. They have Game Wardens there !

[Kola16]

"Our goal in taking today's action was to reduce the size of the pack and break the pattern of predation," said Nate Pamplin, assistant WDFW wildlife director. "We can't guarantee that today's action will prevent future attacks by this pack, but we have clear indications that non-lethal actions alone are unlikely to reduce predation on livestock."

You can't break the habit of predation. It's a wolf 

I really feel bad for those ranchers.

[bearpaw]

It's sad that this family has had to endure losing more than two dozen cattle just last year plus all the other cattle they have lost. Sooner or later people in this state will understand what wolves are all about.

I think WDFW should be given some credit for killing a couple of these wolves. 
It will be interesting to see if the attacks continue, often times a whole pack has to be removed once they become livestock killers.

Another thing I noticed in the reports is that they are now admitting that there might be 4 more wolf packs in addition to the 8 packs already confirmed. I will give WDFW more credit, they are getting closer to the number of wolves in Washington, but they are still running behind. This fall it will be important for members to post wolf sightings here on the forum and report to the WDFW.

Hunter and local resident reports suggest there are about 15 packs in Region 1, enough to delist the whole state. If we could get a different biologist in the Okanogan who would allow some of those packs to be confirmed, then we only need the lower cascades and olympics to confirm wolves for complete state delisting.

The problem I see is getting wolves documented in the other two wolf management zones. It's going to be dependent on us hunters collecting sightings in these more remote areas so that WDFW knows where to look. Remember, the state only has two wolf trappers. 

As soon as possible we need to pressure the legislature to increase the number of wolf trappers in this state. With sightings to support our claims, I think legislators will act, but we need those sightings reported so we can apply pressure on legislators.

Post your sightings here:  http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=79244.0

[Kola16]

IDEA...We all line up (and I mean all of us hunters) at the south end of the state and we all march north, and scare all the wolves back into Canada  But then we wouldn't have any deer, or elk left 

[CAMPMEAT]

IDEA...We all line up (and I mean all of us hunters) at the south end of the state and we all march north, and scare all the wolves back into Canada  But then we wouldn't have any deer, or elk left 

Then we'd be considered " Domestic Terrorists " 

[KFhunter]

It's sad that this family has had to endure losing more than two dozen cattle just last year plus all the other cattle they have lost. Sooner or later people in this state will understand what wolves are all about.

I think WDFW should be given some credit for killing a couple of these wolves. 
It will be interesting to see if the attacks continue, often times a whole pack has to be removed once they become livestock killers.

Another thing I noticed in the reports is that they are now admitting that there might be 4 more wolf packs in addition to the 8 packs already confirmed. I will give WDFW more credit, they are getting closer to the number of wolves in Washington, but they are still running behind. This fall it will be important for members to post wolf sightings here on the forum and report to the WDFW.

Hunter and local resident reports suggest there are about 15 packs in Region 1, enough to delist the whole state. If we could get a different biologist in the Okanogan who would allow some of those packs to be confirmed, then we only need the lower cascades and olympics to confirm wolves for complete state delisting.

The problem I see is getting wolves documented in the other two wolf management zones. It's going to be dependent on us hunters collecting sightings in these more remote areas so that WDFW knows where to look. Remember, the state only has two wolf trappers. 

As soon as possible we need to pressure the legislature to increase the number of wolf trappers in this state. With sightings to support our claims, I think legislators will act, but we need those sightings reported so we can apply pressure on legislators.

Post your sightings here:  http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=79244.0

two dozen cattle is the tip of the ice berg
 
up to seven bulls
cows that did not get preggers
under weight cattle
injured cattle - not directly bitten but ran through downfalls and injured
gas - increased checking of cows on range
hired help man hours increased or diverted from typical summer projects
 
The cows are bunching up in the bottoms with poor forage and not spread out grazing the good stuff, the whole herd is affected.
 
all at a time when cattle prices are through the roof, they should be reaping rewards from large $ sell offs but it is tempered with these losses.
 
 
 

[denali]

thanks for the update Elk329


Capital Press
 
The group Conservation Northwest on Tuesday questioned whether enough non-lethal efforts were made to protect livestock from wolves.   

Not shocked , no amount of time and money spent by producers will ever be enough for wolf advocates 

[Northway]

thanks for the update Elk329


Capital Press
 
The group Conservation Northwest on Tuesday questioned whether enough non-lethal efforts were made to protect livestock from wolves.   

Not shocked , no amount of time and money spent by producers will ever be enough for wolf advocates

I don't think that's necessarily true. There are a number of "wolf advocates" out there who realize that prevention tools like fladry, turbo fladry, range riders, good husbandry, and guard dogs have their limits. In some cases of chronic depredation, like what appears to be going on with the Wedge Pack, the whole pack should be candidates for removal. Another pack that probably should have been removed entirely is the Imnaha Pack. That's a tough one for wolf advocates, since the Imnaha pack has been kind of the cornerstone of wolf recovery in Oregon, but their behavior warranted that type of control.

[villageidiot]

The Lookout Pack has been cattle killers before they were confirmed a pack.  They killed one calf of the Whit'es and a dog of theirs then one holstein cow and her calf on the Golden Doe  then 5 cattle missing on Loolkout mt. from the Pruitt ranch herd  then one calf of Thurlows and injured two other calves.  There were 8 wolves in that pack originally and now there are suppose to be only two.  Since WDFW won't confirm these kills is there doubt what happened to the others?  It doesn't appear that the lookout area is compatable to a wolf pack and the declining pack population is a clear sign.

[denali]

By MATTHEW WEAVER

Capital Press

The decision of Washington wildlife officials to kill a wolf near the Canadian border is too little, too late, says the rancher who's been suffering livestock losses there since 2007.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife killed a wolf from a northeastern Washington pack that has repeatedly attacked livestock during the past five years.

According to the department, the wolf was a non-breeding female member of the Wedge wolf pack. They planned to remain in the area through the afternoon of Aug. 8 to attempt to kill a second wolf.

Nate Pamplin, assistant director with the department, said there are at least four adults and an undetermined number of pups in the Wedge Wolf Pack.

An adjacent ranch had wolf problems with its calving operation this spring, Pamplin said.

The department said it took action after a series of wolf attacks on the Diamond M herd, including two calves killed in 2007, higher-than-normal calf losses and documented wolf activity around the calving operation.

Diamond M ranch owner Len McIrvin, in Laurier, Wash., said he would say the department had killed the wolf when he saw a dead wolf.

"They distort facts so much, they've lied to us continually on this thing," he said. "First they said there was no wolves in the area, we showed them that there was. Then they said there might be wolves, but they'll never eat a cow. We showed them that they did."

McIrvin said wolf activity has been escalating since the confirmed kill in 2007. Last year 11 calves and five bulls were killed, he said, and he expects to lose more this year. He will determine how many have been killed this year in the fall.

"We know we've had two kills, we know we've had four other calves attacked and severely wounded," he said.

McIrvin said there's no way to protect against wolves on the rough, big timber country range, where he runs roughly 300 pairs of cattle.

McIrvin owns a lot of the area and has state Department of Natural Resources leases and U.S. Forest Service grazing permits in the area.

McIrvin said he's seen wolves in the area. Cowboys coming in after dark with horses will have wolves following within several hundred yards, howling.

"You can't see them, but you can hear them all the time," McIrvin said. He has a kill permit for depredation if wolves are caught in the act, but said there's little chance of meeting that requirement.

The environmental organization Conservation Northwest released a statement questioning whether McIrvin made a "good faith effort" to reduce the risk of conflict between wolves and his livestock.

"It's unclear in this case whether the right livestock stewardship steps have first been tried to reduce conflict potential," Mitch Friedman, Conservation Northwest executive director, said in the statement. "If we expect wolves to behave, ranchers need to meet them halfway."

According to the department, state efforts include specialized electric fencing, attaching a radio collar to the pack's alpha male and maintaining a regular human presence in the area. The ranch has employed five cowboys to check frequently on the herd.

Pamplin advised ranchers to contact the department as it makes a concerted effort to determine wolf population numbers within the state. A sighting in an area where wolves haven't previously been detected is helpful to affix radio collars to the wolves, understand the pack location and who to communicate with about wolf presence.

Livestock operators who believe they have lost livestock to any wild animal should call 1-877-933-9847. The state is interested in any wolf sighting information and has an online reporting form.

Under the state's wolf plan, ranchers receive compensation for two animals for a confirmed wolf kill and compensation for one cow for a probable wolf kill, Pamplin said.

McIrvin said his losses are so heavy, including loss of weight gain and lowered conception rate, the only compensation he's interested in would be a dead wolf for every dead calf.

"This isn't a wolf problem, we always could take care of our own problems," he said. "It's an agency regulatory problem (with) threats of imprisonment and fines. If the agencies and their regulations were out of our way, we could take care of the wolf problem."

McIrvin said he is interested in controlling the wolves to make a living. At one point, he said, it might have been possible to maintain control if ranchers could have shot on sight, but that would no longer be feasible. He expects the wolf populations to spread, and plans to continue his operation as long as possible.

"This is our problem today, but in three years it's going to be every cattleman's problem," he said.



so according to Friedman, 100,000  years of behavioral evolution is meaningless, wolves will "behave" if ranchers meet them half way