Wolf Report: Wolf Pack Removed

Continuing conflict between a new wolf pack and livestock has led to the pack's removal. The wolf pack, located primarily on private land west of Fairfield, has been involved in repeated livestock depredations since mid-May. Removing or reducing wolf numbers in areas of ongoing conflict with livestock may be one example of the future of wolf management once wolves are removed from the endangered species list. In July and August, state and federal wolf managers removed Morris Flat pack members incrementally, hoping that they would move or depredations would stop. They haven't. And because all the pack members were implicated in the depredations, the entire pack was removed. Or was it? The livestock depredations started in mid-May. The sixth in the series of incidents was confirmed by U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services on July 18. Wolves of the Morris Flat pack had killed a calf on private land east of Anderson Ranch Reservoir. As part of the ongoing control effort, Wildlife Services on July 25, captured and killed a sub-adult gray male wolf from the Morris Flat pack. Wildlife Services confirmed that the pack had killed another lamb. Wildlife Services killed two more pack members on August 3, as efforts to resolve the repeated livestock depredations continued. Between August 4 and 10, Wildlife Services killed four more wolves from the Morris Flat pack on the Boise National Forest. But the pack apparently wasn't finished. On August 15, Wildlife Services confirmed that a wolf killed a calf on private land on Morris Flats, east of Anderson Ranch Reservoir. The control effort still was open at this site, and if a wolf was trapped, it would be killed. August has been a busy month for wolf managers. In an unrelated depredation incident, Wildlife Services confirmed August 13 that wolves had killed 34 lambs and seven ewes and injured another eight lambs and seven ewes near Josephine Lake on a Payette National Forest grazing allotment, northeast of McCall. While the federal Wildlife Services agent was setting traps, the sheep herders spotted wolves on the side of a nearby hill and hurried back to tell him. The rules of engagement, approved by Idaho Fish and Game, allow Wildlife Services to shoot wolves if they are seen at or near a confirmed depredation. The federal agent stalked, shot and killed three adult wolves. Meanwhile, the herders spotted two more wolves, leaving the kills. None of the wolves carried radio-collars, and no radio-collared wolves were detected. A fourth wolf was shot at the site on August 14. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers the wolf recovered in the northern Rocky Mountains and has started the process to remove the wolf from the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's weekly wolf reports, as well as annual reports, can be viewed at http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov/.