Letter to WDFW from a Follower and WDFWs canned response…

We can personally confirm that the first 5 days there were no deterrents present according to our Volunteer Staff Member. They sent Pictures… even the day the Range Rider and their camper left… was totally gone… still no deterrents…..,

Today however report just in, they finally had fladry up… although it appeared to be on the ground in several places they reported……. we will be posting tonight the images when the Camera gets downloaded.

Dear Director;

Why did you place a kill order on this pack? It is your rules that were supposed to start the depredation count in June, not retroactive from last year! This is shameful and flat out wrong! You all need to quit bending over for these cattle ranchers and start managing our wildlife for all of the public, not just for ranchers! Our federal lands are multi use lands meaning for everyone not just for cattle grazing! I honestly do not know how you can sleep at night! You know that last year when you left several pups and one adult of the Profanity Peak pack that you gave those pups a horrific death sentence of starving to death! Now you’re going to do the same thing to this pack? It’s unconstitutional that you all get away with this crap! I for one am sick of it! Keep the cattle off of areas where you know there are dens! You just set these packs up to fail by allowing the cattle to be placed right on top of den sites! You know that right? I think you owe the public an apology and I think you need to start managing our wildlife in the best interest of the public and not special interest groups!

Regards,

XXXXXXXXX

Dear Interested Party,

Thank you for contacting the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to express your concerns about plans to remove some members of the Smackout wolf pack in Stevens County. We are unable to respond individually to every message, but we believe the information below will address the issues you raised.

WDFW is committed to the recovery of gray wolves in Washington state. To achieve that goal, we have a responsibility to respond to livestock losses and other issues resulting from the growing number of wolves within our borders. Both of these priorities are critical to the long-term success of wolf recovery. The state’s wolf population has increased from five wolves to a minimum of 115 today, growing at a rate of 30 percent per year. Most of that increase has occurred in northeast Washington, where 15 of the state’s 20 wolf packs share the landscape with rural residents and ranching operations. With that increase, it is inevitable that wolves will encounter livestock on both public and private land.

Washington’s Wolf Management and Conservation Plan, adopted in 2011 to guide wolf-recovery efforts, anticipated the current challenge. The plan states that “lethal control of wolves may be necessary to resolve repeated wolf-livestock conflicts.”

Since September 2016, our wolf management team has documented five instances in which the Smackout pack preyed on cattle in Stevens County. That conflict occured despite multiple ranchers’ pro-active efforts to protect livestock. Working closely with WDFW staff, the ranchers have:

• Employed range riders to monitor the herds;
• Removed or secured livestock carcasses and other “attractants;”
• Actively hazed wolves with firearms and pyrotechnics;
• Confined cattle in a fenced pasture within the grazing allotment;
• Used spotlights on a nightly basis to deter wolves;
• Monitored data from GPS collars that we placed on Smackout wolves to focus non-lethal deterrent measures; and
• Used streamers attached to wire or rope (known as “fladry”) to deter wolves.

The department announced its intent to take lethal action against the Smackout pack after confirming the pack’s fourth incident of preying on livestock within the past 10 months. With that incident, the pack met all the criteria for lethal action developed by WDFW and its citizen-based Wolf Advisory Group, which reflects the perspectives of environmentalists, hunters, and livestock producers.

Consistent with that protocol, the department’s goal is to influence/change wolf pack behavior to reduce the potential for recurrent wolf depredations on livestock while continuing to promote wolf recovery.

Relocating wolves to defuse conflicts is problematic. Studies show that many relocated wolves return to their original range or resume attacking livestock in their new location. Capturing wolves and placing them in captive facilities is also complicated. Live-capturing wolves is extremely difficult, and experience has shown that wolves, who use a territory of 350 square miles in the wild, do not adapt well to captivity.

Some people who have contacted the department believe that ranchers should not be allowed to graze livestock on federal rangelands in the first place. That issue is beyond the department’s authority, and changing current practices would require action by the U.S. Congress. WDFW has a responsibility to manage wolves in areas under state jurisdiction regardless of ownership.

Despite occasional conflicts, gray wolves are clearly on the road to recovery in our state and the majority, nearly 80 percent, of wolf packs coexist with livestock without chronic conflict.

Sincerely,

Wildlife Program