NEWS RELEASE-ALERT
Aug 19, 2013
Wolves kill 176 sheep in Teton Basin in Idaho and eat only 1
sheep!
Forest Service says stay
out of area!
WDFW NEWS RELEASE-ALERT
Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA
98501-1091
June 29, 2012
Contact: Steve Pozzanghera,
509-892-7852
WDFW confirms new wolf pack, attack,
on sheep in NE
Washington
OLYMPIA - The Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has confirmed another wolf pack and a wolf
attack on sheep in northeast Washington.
Using remote video cameras, biologists
documented at least five gray wolf pups this week in southern Stevens
County, east of the town of Fruitland and north of the Spokane Indian
Reservation. In reference to nearby Huckleberry Mountain, the pack has
been named the Huckleberry pack.
The new pack
is Washington's seventh confirmed wolf pack, including the recently
documented Nc'icn pack on the Colville Confederated Tribes reservation.
An additional five packs are also suspected in the state.
At about the same time the new wolf
pack was documented, WDFW investigated an attack on domestic sheep in
northwestern Spokane County, near Nine Mile Falls. Based on evidence at
the scene, including wolf tracks and the trauma to the carcass, state
wildlife officials confirmed that the attack was from a wolf. WDFW
officials are working with the livestock producer on compensation for
the sheep.
Washington's new wolf management plan,
adopted last December, includes provisions to compensate ranchers who
lose livestock to wolf predation, said Steve Pozzanghera, a regional
WDFW director and wolf policy lead.
In confirmed wolf depredation cases,
livestock owners can be compensated for the full market value of lost
animals.
"The primary
goal of the new management plan is to protect gray wolves as they
naturally re-establish themselves in Washington," Pozzanghera said.
"But the plan also provides for compensation when landowners lose
livestock to wolf depredation."
Wolves are currently listed by the
state as endangered throughout Washington. The species remains
federally listed as endangered in the western two-thirds of the state.
The state's management plan calls for
removing listed status protection for gray wolves when a total of 15
successful breeding pairs are sustained in three defined areas of the
state for three consecutive years. The state can also delist wolves if
a total of 18 successful breeding pairs are confirmed in those areas at
any point in time.
Pozzanghera urges ranchers who believe
they have lost livestock to predation by any kind of wild animal to
contact WDFW immediately at 1-877-933-9847.
"The sooner
we can investigate the situation, the better our chances are of
determining why the animal died, if a wolf was the predator and if
compensation is warranted," he said. "We also ask that landowners
protect the site from disturbances and keep scavengers away by covering
the carcass with a tarp."
Pozzanghera noted that WDFW field
staff continue to monitor known wolf packs and look for new ones
throughout the state. A map showing wolf packs - confirmed and
suspected - in Washington is available at
http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf/ .
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MORE ON NE WASHINGTON WOLF PACK
All that Federal Money to translocate Wolves. $77,000 to destroy them!