By Dennis L. Clay,
Special to the Herald
Wolves are again living in Washington State. At the present time, there are no federal or state plans to reintroduce the animals into the state.
Instead they are spreading into eastern Washington naturally from populations in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia.
Apparently wolves are here to stay, by federal law, but Washington’s Fish and Wildlife Commission is taking steps to minimize their damage to our deer and elk herds and livestock ranchers.
Not everyone believes the statement, but I must give the commission some leeway and flexibility at this point.
The Commission’s draft position statement about wolves in Washington, dated Feb. 4, 2012, states, “Livestock owners fear that Fish and Wildlife cannot be relied upon to respond promptly with effective tools, no matter what assurances are included in the Plan. To build social tolerance, Fish and Wildlife must establish credibility by making a high priority to use the suite of management tools available to livestock producers and exercise its management authorities assertively.
When it lacks the capacity to respond effectively, the Department must provide livestock producers with the ability to take all measures consistent with the laws and as outlined in the Plan.”
This paragraph shows the desire of the commission to be ready and willing to make the impact of wolf packs on livestock owners minimal.
They do show apprehension about the deer and elk herds in the state with these words from the position statement:
“In Washington, elk herds, with one exception, are just meeting or are below their population objectives.
The Commission is concerned regarding the future impacts of wolves on ungulate populations and the Department’s capacity to successfully monitor and respond to those changes.”
Life of a wolf
My study has uncovered some interesting wolf facts. The animal’s name is listed as gray wolf, grey wolf and common wolf. They are about twice the size of a coyote and stand 2.5 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet long.
They weigh 70 to 120 pounds and their paw size is 4 to 5 inches. The lifespan is said to be 7 or 8 years in the wild, but some have been documented to live 10 years or more. Their color varies from black, white and shades of gray and brown.
Compare this to a coyote, which stands 1.5 feet tall and 4 feet long. These animals weigh 20 to 50 pounds and their paw size is 2 to 2.5 inches.
According to Fish and Wildlife wolves are highly social and live in packs.
The pack usually consists of a dominant breeding pair (an alpha male and alpha female), their offspring from the previous year, and new pups. Other breeding-age adults may be present.
The pack hunts, feeds, travels, and rests together. It also shares pup-rearing responsibilities, including hunting and tending pups. Pack size is highly variable, but commonly averages four to11 animals.
A pack establishes a territory and defends it against neighboring packs. Territory boundaries and sizes can vary from year to year, but usually average about 140-400 square miles. Territory size is often smaller when prey is common and other packs live nearby.
Most young wolves leave their birth pack at two to three years of age to search for a mate and to start a new pack of their own. Dispersing wolves move about 60 miles on average, but can travel more than 500 miles.”
I trust the Fish and Wildlife Commission and Fish and Wildlife Department to closely monitor the growing Washington wolf population. I’m anxious for the de-listing to occur and for hunting to be one of the tools used in the wolf-management plan. Introducing a couple of packs to western Washington would surely speed up the process.