POSTED BY GEORGE PRENTICE
Officials with Idaho Wildlife Services say they’ve had to kill a total of six wolves at Flat Top Ranch in the Blaine County community of Carey. Three of the wolves were pups. The killings came in response to four separate incidents of depredation of sheep flocks between mid-May and late June.
The Idaho Mountain Express reports that ranch owner John Peavey said wolves have killed about 50 of his sheep and additional lambs have died because their mothers were killed.
“We’ve been picking up lambs in the process of starving,” Peavey told the Mountain Express.
An official with Idaho Wildlife Services said wolves were still “present and active near the livestock in the area” of the ranch.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Defenders of Wildlife contends that the wolves are drawn to the ranch primarily because ewes are allowed to give birth on the range, rather than in enclosed pastures or sheds.
“We would like to help them avoid going through the same situation next year,” Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife told the Mountain Express. “But if nothing changes, they will.”