Following five depredations in the southeast corner of the state, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is now considering the lethal removal of a wolf or wolves from the Couse pack. Investigators said those depredations date back to September 19th and have resulted in one dead calf, injuries to a cow, two calves and probable injuries to another cow. WDFW said these events occurred within a 10-month rolling window of time as described in the wolf-livestock interaction protocol.
In addition, on Sunday October 13th, WDFW staff investigated an injured calf that had been gathered and removed by the producer from an area of the pasture where the Couse pack and Tucannon pack territories overlap. Both packs were in the vicinity of the injured calf during the time frame when the injury likely occurred.
Late last month, WDFW Director Kelley Susewind authorized a lethal removal operation for the Couse pack which expired at midnight October 8th. WDFW staff are discussing these depredations and the use of non-lethal measures in the Couse and Tucannon pack territories. Non-lethal deterrents in this case include:
- Daily to near-daily range riding
- Human presence
- Delayed turnout of calves until they were at least 200 pounds
- Removing sick and injured livestock
- Livestock carcass sanitation
Staff are assessing how to address this situation most effectively and will provide a recommendation to Susewind…