Judge denies temporary injunction to stop Pack Removal

A Thurston County Superior Court judge has rejected a request for a temporary injunction that would have prohibited the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) from lethally removing wolves from a pack in Ferry County.

 As a result, the department can remove wolves from the Old Profanity Territory pack as authorized Sept. 12 by WDFW Director Kelly Susewind. Information about the authorization appears in a separate update. Two organizations, the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands, sought the injunction several hours after the department announced Susewind’s authorization.

 Judge Murphy said the petitioners had not met the criteria for temporary injunctive relief under the state Administrative Procedures Act. However, she said the court would expedite a hearing on the merits of the petitioners’ underlying complaint. Susewind authorized “incremental removal” of wolves from the OPT pack after WDFW staff documented the pack’s involvement in six confirmed livestock depredations since Sept. 4, 2018.

 Under WDFW’s wolf-livestock interaction protocol, the department can consider and take lethal action if department staff confirm three predations by wolves on livestock within 30 days or four within 10 months, in cases where non-lethal deterrents have not prevented wolf-livestock conflict. Incremental removal is defined by both the protocol and the state’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan as the removal of one or two wolves, followed by a period of evaluation to determine whether the action has changed the pack’s pattern of predation.