More Wolves in WDFW’s Crosshairs

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today authorization for lethal removal of wolves in two more packs. The Togo pack is now slated for full pack removal, and the Smackout pack is targeted for incremental removal of one or two wolves.

Shawn Cantrell, vice president for Field Conservation Programs for Defenders of Wildlife, issued this statement:

“2018 continues to be a challenging and distressing year for wolf management in Washington state. Ongoing wolf-livestock conflicts, with multiple depredations and now additional efforts to kill more wolves, point to the urgent need to re-assess the state’s 2017 Wolf-Livestock Interaction protocol. All stakeholders – ranchers, conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, elected officials, hunters – need to sit down together to revise and clarify the Wolf-Livestock Interaction protocol and the state’s overall wolf management.

“Repeated cattle depredations followed by lethal removal of wolves year after year doesn’t work for anyone. We need to adapt our approach to incorporate the ‘lessons learned’ from this cycle of wolf-livestock conflicts in order to find sustainable solutions going forward.”