On July 31, WDFW Director Kelly Susewind reauthorized the lethal removal of wolves from the OPT pack in response to repeated depredation of cattle on federal grazing lands in the Kettle River range of Ferry County under the guidance of the state’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and the lethal removal provisions of the department’s wolf-livestock interaction protocol. This is the fourth time Director Susewind has authorized lethal removal in the OPT pack since Sept. 12, 2018; three wolves were removed under the prior authorizations.
The OPT pack has been involved in 14 livestock depredations (both livestock injuries and deaths) in the last 10 months, with 9 of those in the last 30 days, and a total of 29 since Sept. 5, 2018. Depredation activity and agency wolf removals are summarized in each monthly wolf update. Since the last weekly update on Aug. 6, the Department has removed three wolves, 2 juveniles and 1 adult. The Department’s lethal removal period is currently ongoing.
WDFW will keep the public informed about this activity through weekly updates. The next update will be on Aug. 20.
WDFW will provide a final report on this and any other lethal removal operation during 2019 in the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2019 Annual Report, which will be published during spring 2020. For a summary of removal operations in the OPT pack during 2018, please see page 37 of the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2018 Annual Report.
Previous updates
2019 OPT pack updates