State OKs killing of up to two wolves in county

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has authorized the killing of either one or two wolves in Asotin County.

According to a news release from the department, the authorization is in response to six cattle killed in four separate attacks since May 21 by members of wolf group WA 139. Three of the attacks were confirmed to be by wolves and one was determined to be a probable wolf attack.

The group has killed cattle belonging to four different producers and, according to the department, each of the producers implemented proactive, nonlethal deterrent methods such as range riding, removing dead cattle so they don’t attract wolves, and the use of bright, motion-activated lights designed to scare wolves.

The agency wrote that the deterrents were not successful and lethal removal is required to change behavior of the wolves.

“(Department) staff believe depredations would likely continue given recent pack behavior and the limited effectiveness of additional reactive measures that could be implemented in these pastures and allotments to protect livestock,” the agency wrote.

Under the state’s wolf management plan, lethal control of wolves can be considered following four confirmed depredation events within a 10-month period and after nonlethal methods have proved unsuccessful.

The agency determined removing one or two wolves is not expected to prevent wolves reaching state recovery goals.

The lethal removal authority will expire when one or two wolves in WA Group 139 territory have been killed or after Sept. 6.

The authorization was announced Wednesday, the same day the department revealed the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider several rulemaking petitions submitted by groups and individual citizens. One of them, submitted by a coalition of environmental and animal rights groups, asks the commission to consider changing state code governing lethal control of wolves. Among other changes, it would only allow lethal control following three confirmed attacks by wolves on livestock, two of which must be fatal, within a 30-day period. It would require that two nonlethal control methods be in place before lethal control can be considered. The new rule would forbid lethal control on public land and forbid killing wolves that attack livestock if the attack happens close to “known core wolf areas, including dens and rendezvous sites.”

The commission rejected consideration of a similar rulemaking petition from environmental groups in 2020. That prompted Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to demand the commission consider new rules designed to reduce both wolf attacks on livestock and the frequency of lethal control actions. The commission considered but ultimately rejected the proposed rules on a narrow 5 to 4 vote.

The wolves, known locally as the Anatone Pack, have not yet met the agency’s threshold of existing for one year to officially be named a pack. According to the department, the group likely broke off from the nearby Tucannon Pack in January and moved into northeastern Oregon, where they were blamed for several lethal attacks on livestock. One of the members of the group was killed by a rancher. In March, the animals began splitting time between Wallowa County in Oregon and Asotin County in Washington.

The group has been living mostly on private lands on the breaks of the Snake River northeast of Anatone, according to rancher Jay Holzmiller.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.