Fish and Game Annual Wolf Report Available

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has completed its annual report, summarizing wolf activity and related management in Idaho during 2008. The report has been submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is available online at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/wildlife/wolves/. During 2008, biologists documented 88 resident wolf packs in Idaho that were alive at the end of the year. The minimum population was estimated at 846 wolves. Of the 60 packs known to have reproduced, 39 packs qualified as breeding pairs by the end of the year. These 60 reproductive packs produced at least 192 pups. In addition, biologists document 16 border packs whose territories overlap the state boundaries with Montana and Wyoming and likely spent some time in Idaho. In Idaho, wolf packs ranged from the Canadian border south to Interstate Highway 84, and from the Washington and Oregon borders east to the Montana and Wyoming borders. Dispersing wolves were occasionally reported in previously unoccupied areas, and the increase in our minimum population estimate appears to be a result of range expansion, primarily in the Panhandle, and an increase in average pack size used for calculating the population. Biologists also documented 16 previously unknown packs during 2008, but there was a net increase of only five documented packs in the state. New packs and wolves attempted to recolonize within the Southern Mountains, but they became involved in livestock conflicts and were removed. During 2008, 496 wolf observations were reported on Fish and Game's online website report form. Officials confirmed 153 wolf deaths in Idaho during 2008. Agency control and legal landowner take in response to wolf-livestock depredation accounted for 108 deaths; other human causes, including illegal kills, accounted for 23 deaths; unknown causes took 18; and natural causes accounted for four. During 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services confirmed that wolves killed 96 cattle, 218 sheep, 12 dogs and one foal. Wildlife Services also considered 32 cattle, 46 sheep and one dog as probable kills by wolves.