Washington officials mistakenly kill wolf pup
SPOKANE — Washington wildlife officials mistakenly killed a wolf pup Thursday believing the animal was an adult member of the Smackout pack.
“It was unintentional to remove a wolf pup rather than an adult,” said Julia Smith, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife statewide wolf coordinator. “Biologists who saw the wolf evaluated it and based on their professional opinion thought it was an adult from a distance. Following removal, they saw it was a pup.”
On Sept. 1, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind authorized the killing of one wolf from the Smackout pack territory after repeated attacks on cattle in Stevens and Pend Oreille counties. On Thursday, an agency biologist killed the wolf pup as part of that order. On closer examination it was unclear whether the wolf was a member of the Smackout pack.
“Although this wolf was in the immediate proximity of and appeared to be traveling with members of the Smackout pack, based on the location of the removal and subsequent discovery of Dirty Shirt wolves in the area, it is not clear whether the wolf was traveling with the Smackout pack or the Dirty Shirt pack,” Smith said in an email.
WDFW suspended all lethal removal operations following that killing. Smith said while the pup’s pack membership remained unclear, the death occured in traditional Smackout territory, thus meeting the requirements of the lethal removal order.
“The director authorized the lethal removal of one wolf from the Smackout pack territory, which occurred,” she said.
Prior to the order to kill a wolf from the Smackout pack agency officials documented five depredation events affecting three different livestock producers resulting in four dead and two injured calves since Aug. 17. There have been no documented wolf depredations in the Smackout pack territory since Aug. 31.
