Wolf May Be Killed Following September Depredation

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is considering incremental lethal removal of a wolf or wolves from the Sherman wolf pack in response to a confirmed September 28th depredation in Ferry County.

This attack, which left the calf injured, follows the lethal removal of an adult female non-breeding wolf from the Sherman pack August 26th.  WDFW says that removal was an effort to disrupt a pattern of repeated wolf depredations on cattle.  This most recent depredation is the first in the past 30 days and the sixth in this pack territory within last ten months, resulting in three dead and three injured calves belonging to a single livestock producer.  

WDFW Says The Rancher Was Proactive

The producer was using a variety of non-lethal deterrents at the time of the latest depredation, including: 

• Human presence by the producer and ranch-hands
• daily/near-daily range riding
• removing sick and injured livestock
• removing carcasses when feasible
• conducting calving operations away from known wolf activity areas. 

WDFW staff discussed the recent depredation by the Sherman wolf pack, as well as the potential effectiveness of additional reactive non-lethal deterrence tools. Given the consistent current human presence/range riding efforts, staff do not believe there are any additional reactive non-lethal deterrents appropriate for this situation.  

Recommendation Expected In Coming Days

WDFW said it is assessing how to most effectively address this situation moving forward and will provide a recommendation to WDFW Director Kelly Susewind within the next few days. 

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