Two wolves from the Columbia pack in southeastern Washington were shot and killed recently, fulfilling an order from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife designed to stop attacks on cattle.
According to a news release from the agency, a yearling female and adult male wolf were killed Monday.
Department director Kelly Susewind authorized the move last week following a months-long string of attacks on cattle by members of the pack that roams the foothills and benches of the northwest slope of the Blue Mountains near Patit Creek in Columbia County. The agency documented six attacks on livestock by the pack and another six that were judged “probable” in the past 10 months. The latest attack on Dec. 29 resulted in the death of a calf.
According to the terms of the kill order that authorized the removal of two wolves, it is now expired.
The Columbia wolf pack is one of five in the state’s southeastern corner and 42 statewide. Most of the state’s estimated wolf population of 260 animals lives in northeastern Washington. Wolves in Washington are protected by the state and those that inhabit the western two-thirds of the state are protected as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
