Social Network

Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com
Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

WA: Wolves attack five more calves in northeast Washington

A wolfpack in northeast Washington continues to attack cattle after the state Department Fish and Wildlife shoots one young wolf.

Don Jenkins
Capital Press

A wolfpack targeted by wildlife managers continues to attack calves in the Colville National Forest in northeast Washington and drive cattle from high-elevation grazing land into a canyon with little feed, a rancher suffering losses said Monday.

Five more attacks were identified by wildlife investigators Friday, according to sources. The Department of Fish and Wildlife had shot one juvenile wolf in the pack five days earlier.

“They came over and killed one pup and acted like they achieved something,” said Len McIrvin of the Diamond M ranch. “There are dead and wounded cattle all over the mountain. It’s indescribable.”

The wolves are attacking cattle in what Fish and Wildlife calls the Old Profanity Territory, a reference to a pack that once occupied the area in northern Ferry County. A Fish and Wildlife marksman in a helicopter shot the 50-pound wolf Sept. 16. The department said four wolves were seen and that it was difficult from the air to distinguish adults from juveniles.

Fish and Wildlife has not announced whether it will target more wolves in the pack. Efforts to obtain comment from the department Monday were not successful.

McIrvin said Diamond M turned out about 700 cow-calf pairs on five grazing allotments. McIrvin said he expects to lose 70 to 80 head. “It’s not just one allotment. That pack is moving all over the area,” he said.

“There is no safe haven for these cattle,” he said. “Yeah, we’ll move the cattle, but it’s only an hour’s jaunt for the wolves to get to them.”

In addition, skinny cattle will be hard-pressed to survive the winter, he said.

“There is all the feed in the world at the high elevations, but the wolves are driving the cattle into a canyon with no food or water,” he said.

Fish and Wildlife’s protocol calls for the department to consider killing one or two wolves after three confirmed attacks on livestock within 30 days. The pack killed one calf and injured five others between Sept. 4-7, according to Fish and Wildlife. The department also confirmed Sept. 17 that wolves killed an adult cow. Confirmed attacks do not include cases in which only bones remain or account for missing cattle.

Cattle Producers of Washington President Scott Nielsen said Monday that Fish and Wildlife should have acted sooner to keep the attacks on livestock from escalating.

“What they need to do now is complete pack removal,” Nielsen said. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s the department’s own making by its lack of action.”

The department shot the young wolf two days after a Thurston County judge declined to block the operation. The Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands sought the restraining order. The groups are suing to overturn the department’s lethal-removal protocol on wolves.

McIrvin said he feels like he’s on the losing end of a popularity contest between wolves and cattle. Wolves are not a federally protected species in the eastern one-third of Washington, but are a state-protected species.

“The Legislature won’t protect our private property rights,” he said.

Source