By Jonathon Ambarian – MTN News
HELENA – The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks says that a ranch hand who shot and killed a wolf in the Helena Valley over the weekend did everything correctly.
“It was a textbook example of how it should happen,” said FWP Warden Sgt. Dave Loewen.
It happened Sunday on the Running W Ranch, just south of Lake Helena.
An employee shot the 110-pound male wolf after seeing it running near the ranch’s cattle.
The property owner then immediately called FWP.
Loewen said that it is legal to kill a wolf if it’s causing an imminent threat to livestock, even if it hasn’t actually attacked any animals.
Because the wolf was not taken as part of an official hunt, FWP took the animal and preserved its hide.
Loewen believes the wolf was in the Valley at least as early as Saturday and crossed over several properties.
FWP received reports Saturday of people hunting it.
It’s still not clear how it ended up in the area. Loewen says it may have been part of a pack near the Continental Divide.
”It’s no question that it’s very unusual for a wolf to be roaming alone through the Helena Valley,” he said. “That’s what makes this so interesting.”
Loewen says there’s no evidence any other wolves are currently in the Valley.
FWP took samples from the wolf, and hope laboratory analysis will give a clearer picture of where the wolf came from.
Those results are likely to take at least a month.