A northeast Washington sheriff said Tuesday he may look into trapping and putting radio collars on wolves to protect public safety, after his offer to help the state Department of Fish and Wildlife got a cold reception.

Stevens County Sheriff Brad Manke met with Fish and Wildlife officials last week to discuss having wildlife deputy Jeff Flood trap wolves. Flood’s experience as a trapper and knowledge of wolf movements would help the department collar, and track, more wolves, Manke said.

“I made it very clear our help was for free. I made it clear we would assume liability for anything we do,” Manke said,

“They pretty much indicated they didn’t want our help trapping,” he said. “I’d rather cooperate with the department. That would be a better scenario. But I’m going to look at different scenarios.”

A Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman said the department…