By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to put a tracking collar on a Wedge Pack member this week, but wildlife managers say they will consider shooting more wolves if they continue to kill livestock.
David Ware, department game division manager, said a calf found dead July 22 on Roy Graeber’s ranch in Laurier, Wash., was confirmed as a wolf kill.
“It obviously raises concern for a lot of folks,” Ware said. “Folks are wanting to hold our feet to the fire, and that’s not a bad thing — the department will do what we said we would do, as best we can.”
The department will trap a wolf to put a satellite collar on it to track, Ware said. No Wedge Pack wolves are currently collared.
“Just having a trapping operation on the ground sometimes is enough to get wolves to abandon the area,” he said. “We would probably be extremely lucky if we were to catch anything with the limited wolf sign we are seeing, but we are still going to take a shot at it.”
The Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association is calling for removal of the Wedge Pack.
Because of the history of the pack, which has repeated attacked livestock in the area, Ware said the department would have to look seriously at killing the wolves if there’s another depredation.
“We want to leave our options open,” he said. “Even if we caught a wolf, we may decide to put a collar on it because there’s multiple wolves up there. We want to find out about that so we can be more effective, dealing with what options we might have.”
Ware expected trapping efforts to occur later this week.
If the department catches one wolf but sees multiple tracks, they would likely use a collar to find the other wolves, Ware said. But if the wolf potentially is attracted to a carcass, the department could remove it quickly, he said.
“We definitely would move forward with action immediately,” he said.
Graeber said the calf killed in July was one of 100 pairs he raises. He estimated the loss at $900.
Graeber would like to see the department remove the entire wolf pack. He’s had a department range rider and game officials inspect the area, noting he uses a 3,000-acre forest pasture. The department is working on 250 acres of about 3,000, he said. He also monitors the larger area.
Graeber doesn’t believe the department will do much to remove the pack. His family and friends have 11 cameras set for motion detection on the property, baited with wolf urine or elk feed.
Graeber said there have been no additional depredations, but there are reports of wolves in the vicinity.
He advises other ranchers to contact the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office if they have a wolf near their ranch.
Graeber is aware of critics who complain about how his ranch is handling the situation.
“It just makes you wonder how they’d feel if that wolf was trotting down the sidewalk with their little rat dog in its mouth,” he said.