Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/
August 20, 2014
Contact: Craig Bartlett, (360) 902-2259
Contact: Craig Bartlett, (360) 902-2259
WDFW adopts new tactics to stop wolves
from preying on flock of sheep
from preying on flock of sheep
OLYMPIA – A rancher and state wildlife officials working to herd a flock of 1,800 sheep away from the site of recent wolf attacks in southern Stevens County today received authorization to shoot wolves that approach the flock.
Phil Anderson, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), today authorized livestock owner Dave Dashiell, of Hunters, and agency field staff to use limited lethal measures and preventative steps to avoid additional attacks on the flock.
Since Aug. 14, WDFW has confirmed that wolves killed 16 sheep in four separate incidents on leased forest land near Hunters, a small community about 48 miles northwest of Spokane. The latest attack occurred the night of Aug. 18.
Nine other sheep found prior to Aug. 14 had decomposed to the point where the cause of death could not be determined.
Signals from a radio collar attached to a male wolf in the Huckleberry Pack show the animal was at the site, likely with other pack members, when the attacks occurred, said Nate Pamplin, WDFW wildlife program director.
Necropsies of the carcasses confirmed the sheep were killed by wolves, he said.
“The rancher has four large guard dogs and camps alongside his flock at night,” Pamplin said. “Yet, the attacks have continued, even after the department sent four members of our wildlife-conflict staff and an experienced range-rider to help guard the sheep and begin moving them out of the area.”
To further protect his sheep, the livestock owner has removed the carcasses of dead animals where possible to do so and kept his flock on the move around the grazing areas, Pamplin said.
“Dave Dashiell has worked closely with WDFW field staff to find solutions to this situation,” Pamplin said. “We really appreciate his efforts and his cooperation in working toward a shared goal.”
To support those efforts, Anderson directed WDFW wildlife staff to:
- Help the livestock owner find an alternative grazing area away from the Huckleberry Pack.
- Capture and collar additional wolves in the pack to provide additional information on their movements.
- Be prepared to shoot wolves in the vicinity of the livestock owner’s sheep. Neither WDFW staff, nor the livestock owner, who was also authorized to shoot wolves in the vicinity, will actively hunt the wolves or attempt to draw them into range.
“Observing a wolf in the wild is a fairly rare thing,” Pamplin said. “Given the escalating pattern of attacks on this flock of sheep, it’s safe to assume in this situation that any wolves in the vicinity of that flock pose a direct risk to those animals.”
In 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed gray wolves from the federal list of endangered species in the eastern third of the state, but the species is still protected under Washington state law. The state Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and state laws set the parameters for responding to wolf predation on livestock.
“Our preferred option is to help the livestock owner move the sheep to another area, but finding a place to graze 1,800 animals presents a challenge,” Pamplin said. “We’ll continue to do everything we can to avoid further conflict.”
The Huckleberry Pack, confirmed as the state’s seventh wolf pack in June 2012, is known to have at least six members and perhaps as many as a dozen. There is no documented evidence that the pack, named after nearby Huckleberry Mountain, has preyed on livestock until now.
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Exposing the Big Game 
It is very commendable that the sheep rancher and WDFW have attempted nonlethal management of the Huckleberry pack and even entertained the idea of alternative grazing area and moving the sheep. However, the problem is still encroachment on (leased) national forest land and the temptation of sheep (1800) on this land. Maybe a tact could be continued nonlethal management efforts and sheep rancher reimbursement. In any case there is too much encroachment on national forest lands and BLM lands in the west, 23,000 leases in 16 western states. Unless we find some ways to reverse this encroachment and the ever increasing demand for pasture in this country and others, with 7 billion people headed to 10 billion by the middle to end of the century, we are not going to have wildlife. We are headed to meat extinction of wilderness and wildlife. In Montana alone there are 772 permits to graze on national forests lands and 3776 to graze on BLM land. Ranching/grazing is pushing wild horses off public lands and negatively impacting the whole ecology of wilderness, and this is not counting the oil and gas leases. No habitat no wild, no predator tolerance no wild, hunter-rancher policy making on public lands no wild. We need yo start retiring leases and/or conservation organizations need to start buying them up. Wildlife conservationists and wildlife agencies have to solve this encroachment problem or we are just blowing smoke and hot air until the inevitable end.
Indeed ! You said it all and it’s all absolutely right in
Thank you for your clear and future thinking .. Can you just take ove and be the sec of interior and agriculture?!
We need you making these vital policy decisions for our beautiful wild lands and beings
You are a gifted writer and have captured the absolute essence of the conflict … Encroachment, over population of the human species and their gosh awful eating habits … And bad pixies from our president and his appointments .. All a dreadful deadly combination for our wild
Well said, Roger! Thanks for your clarity and knowledge.
Seems to me they still want to kill them