Free: Contests & Raffles.
If the number gets to 18bp (seen with pups) in the state, they will be delisted right away, there will not have to be a 3 yr. waiting period. Unfornately, Olympia and WDFW can't count past ten.
Don't forget it's also possible that these are wolves that are being "translocated" from another WA area.
This just sent:Dear Director Anderson, I recently read on www.ifish.com that one of the members has pictures of wolves being released from a WDFW vehicle near Ellensburg. Please confirm or deny this. If this is just a bad rumor, I would like to alert the hunting community on www.hunting-washington.com with the truth. I've been very interested in and have been following the progress of the Wolf Plan and the recent acceptance of that plan. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood that the DFW's policy was that the gray wolf would populate naturally from Idaho and Canada, and not be transplanted by WDFW or any other group. Has the policy changed? I request the courtesy of a reply. Thank you so much in advance for your attention to my request. Most Sincerely, John WVancouver, WA
Here's the answer:Dear Mr. Wallace,Thank you for contacting the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) regarding a rumor that you recently saw on www.ifish.com that someone has pictures of wolves being released from a WDFW vehicle near Ellensburg. The Director has asked Wildlife Program to respond to your email.This is just another in a long line of rumors that we have heard, all of which involve wolves being brought into the state and released. All of them are false. Wolves are dispersing into Washington on their own from populations in Canada and adjacent states, thus there is no reason to deliberately reintroduce them. WDFW has never reintroduced or transplanted wolves from other states or provinces into any part of Washington, nor has any other state or federal authority done this. There are no plans to ever do this.It is always interesting to try tracking down the source of the rumors – it would be interesting to see the pictures referred to in the note you read. We are appreciative of you alerting us to another one and for asking whether it was true or not. There are numerous false rumors that have surfaced over the years. They include: 1. A rumor that Weyerhaeuser parachuted 25 or more wolves into southwestern Washington in the 1960s.2. A rumor that wolves have been secretly released in northeastern Washington by someone hiding them in a Schwan’s ice cream truck.3. A rumor that wolves were secretly released in the central Cascades from a truck with Montana license plates in the late 1990s.4. A rumor that WDFW was transplanting wolves into northeastern Washington. A picture of someone who helped WDFW capture and radio-collare a wolf from a resident Washington pack was put out on a website. It was misrepresented as being in a different location and as proof that WDFW was transplanting wolves into Washington. The person in the photograph corrected the false representation and gave the accurate information about the picture. He had no idea who had gotten the photo and put false information with it.5. A rumor that someone talked to the driver of a truck on the Spirit Lake Highway this past winter who said that he had just released 60 wolves at Mt. St. Helens.6. A rumor that 900 wolves were released in Skagit County.7. A rumor that 900 wolves were going to be being released on the Olympic Peninsula.8. A rumor that the legislature authorized 19 breeding pairs of wolves to be introduced into Washington. We hope you will let others know that this particular rumor is false, as you suggested by alerting the hunting community on www.hunting-washington.com, and that perhaps you will alert the website as well. If you are interested in learning more about wolves and wolf management in Washington, please see WDFW’s webpage on wolves (http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf/). Sincerely, Wildlife Program Customer Service(360)902-2515
