Category: West Coast US

Fearing violence, officials cancel public meetings on managing Washington wolf packs | The Seattle Times

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A motion-triggered wildlife camera near the den of the original Profanity Peak pack captures the family in 2016. Seven pack members were shot by Department of Fish and Wildlife after the wolves killed cattle on public land at the Colville National Forest. (WSU wolf livestock research program)

State officials have canceled a series of public meetings about possible changes to the state’s wolf-management policy, citing fear of violence.

The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife had planned 14 public meetings from Spokane to Montesano to kick off a yearslong process of creating a new wolf-management policy, once wolves are no longer protected under the state and federal endangered species acts.

Instead, the department is hosting online webinars. The dates have not yet been announced.

via Fearing violence, officials cancel public meetings on managing Washington wolf packs | The Seattle Times

WDFW kills 3 more wolves in OPT pack | Livestock | capitalpress.com

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Two pups and one adult in the OPT wolfpack in northeast Washington have been lethally removed, Fish and Wildlife reported Tuesday.

The department has now killed six wolves since the pack started attacking cattle in the Kettle River Range in Ferry County last September. The department removed two wolves last fall and one in July.

Fish and Wildlife, in a statement, said it removed the two pups and one adult in the past week. Before then, the pack had four adults and at least four pups, according to the department.

The department said the lethal-removal operation is continuing.

An animal-welfare group, Maryland-based Center for a Humane Economy, had sought a restraining order to block the operation. A King County Superior Court commissioner declined to issue a preliminary injunction. Another hearing is scheduled for Friday.

The OPT has killed or injured at least 29 cows or calves since Sept. 5, according to Fish and Wildlife.

Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind on Friday authorized the department to lethally remove the remaining two wolves in the Togo pack, also preying on cattle in Ferry County. The department has not reported killing any wolves in that pack.
via WDFW kills 3 more wolves in OPT pack | Livestock | capitalpress.com

Three New Wolf Pups Sighted in Northeast California | KQED Science

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California’s only known wolf pack has at least three new pups, according to a report by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Trail cameras in Lassen County recorded the pups, as well as two or three adult wolves, in June.

Grey wolves first came to California in this century. On December 28, 2011, a single grey wolf with a radio collar crossed the Oregon/California border into California history. Named OR-7, the wolf was the first confirmed grey wolf in the state since 1924, when the last known wolf in California was trapped and killed in Lassen County. OR-7 became famous — and for some, notorious — as people debated what the return of the predators would mean for agriculture.
via Three New Wolf Pups Sighted in Northeast California | KQED Science

California wolf attacks: 2 Lassen cattle killed, 3 injured | Charlotte Observer

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Wolves killed two calves during separate Lassen County incidents this month in what wildlife officials are calling the largest wolf attack on livestock since the predators returned to California.

The yearling cattle were killed by wolves on private land in western Lassen County, and three other cattle were found with tooth scrapes and other injuries, according to investigative reports from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A ranch hand discovered the first attack July 13 after spotting “a wolf feeding on the carcass of an approximately 550-pound yearling cow,” which was reported to state and federal officials, a state report said.
via California wolf attacks: 2 Lassen cattle killed, 3 injured | Charlotte Observer

Six new wolf pups born in Mount Hood area of Western Oregon

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Six new wolf pups were born to the White River Pack this year, according to footage from a trail cam put up by biologists with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and shared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The White River Pack is located just southeast of Mount Hood and east of popular Timothy Lake. With five members in 2018, it was one of the few confirmed packs in Western Oregon, along with southwest Oregon’s Rogue Pack.
via Six new wolf pups born in Mount Hood area of Western Oregon

Lawmaker Wants Review of Wolf Recovery Efforts | Northwest Regional News | chronline.com

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OLYMPIA — A new law will require a statewide analysis by the Department of Fish and Wildlife of wolf recovery efforts to see if a change in conservation status is warranted.State Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, sponsored House Bill 2097, which Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed and is effective July 28. The bill passed the House of Representatives unanimously and the Senate by a 43-5 vote.Julia Smith, a wolf specialist with Fish and Wildlife, said the department conducts status reviews of endangered species every five years. The gray wolf review is delayed, she said, but would have been done regardless of the new law.The most recent estimate from Fish and Wildlife showed 27 wolf packs in Washington, the majority in the northeastern part of the state.Eastern Washington has reached wolf recovery goals, and the Northern Cascades zone is close. However, the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast zone has not reached those goals.When it comes to conservation status, the state doesn’t make distinctions between different regions, Smith said.

Source: Lawmaker Wants Review of Wolf Recovery Efforts | Northwest Regional News | chronline.com

Oregon wildlife commissioners adopt hotly contested wolf management plan – oregonlive.com

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After years or revisions, scores of contentious meetings, an outside mediator and the abandonment of talks by half of the stakeholders, Oregon wildlife commissioners approved the state’s long-overdue Wolf Management Plan on Friday.In a 6 to 1 vote, the 155-page plan, which governs how wolves are handled in the areas of the state where they don’t enjoy federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, was approved by the seven-member commission of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Source: Oregon wildlife commissioners adopt hotly contested wolf management plan – oregonlive.com