[Wolf killing is another by-product of lamb and wool.]
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Washington-OKs-hunt-to-kill-wolves-attacking-sheep-272481111.html
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – Hunters aboard a helicopter took aim at wolves that have been killing sheep in Stevens County in northeast Washington.
The Spokesman-Review reports state officials have OK’d the hunt for a portion of a wolf pack that’s killed at least 22 sheep this month.
The announcement comes after the state authorized a rancher to shoot the same wolves approaching his flock of 1,800 sheep.
But the state Fish and Wildlife Department says efforts to deter the pack have failed. So agency Director Phil Anderson says he authorized the killing of four wolves from the pack, which is estimated at up to 12 members.
By 4 p.m. Saturday, the newspaper reported that no wolves had been killed.
Conservation groups are opposed, saying killing wolves is not an effective way to protect livestock.
Exposing the Big Game 
If the sheep are on (leased) public land, the sheep should be moved and/or the wolves handled in only nonlethal ways and any sheep killing tolerated; else what we have is never ending encroachment on wildlife and wilderness; ranching, especially on public land is the main enemy of wolves, and bison and wild horses and much else as it destroys habitat as well as wildlife.
That’s all so true. Someone tried to comment that the sheep rancher did nothing to attract the wolves, but just having so many defenseless sheep in one place is such a draw for a wolf that they’d have to be saint to ignore temptation.
Here we go again. Another slaughter of wolves just like the Wedge Pack this same time of year two years ago. Washington has a Wolf Management Plan in place; why isn’t the WDFW adhering to it?
Yep, it’s the Wedge Pack deja vu, and in almost the same part of Washington