WDFW officials have confirmed that one or more wolves caused the death of a calf whose carcass was discovered May 20 in a federal grazing allotment in northern Ferry County, within the Togo wolf pack range.
A woodcutter working in the area said he approached a gate that separates U.S. Forest Service land from private property, where he heard a cow bawling and saw a black wolf running from the area where the calf was found. The woodcutter reported the incident to the producer, who had seen the calf alive earlier in the day and who then found the carcass and reported the incident to WDFW.
A WDFW official arrived later on May 20 and conducted an investigation with help from a wildlife specialist employed by Stevens and Ferry counties.
The investigators found that the calf had bite lacerations and puncture wounds to both rear quarters, upper rear legs, neck and sternum, consistent with predation by a wolf. Hemorrhaging was visible near the bite wounds and was also found in the left front armpit, where no lacerations or punctures were visible. Evidence indicated the calf was alive during the depredation event.
Based on all available evidence, WDFW classified the event as a confirmed wolf depredation by one or more members of the Togo pack. The incident represents the third confirmed depredation involving the Togo pack in the past seven months.
In this case, the producer deployed one proactive deterrence measure – checking on his cattle daily. The WDFW wolf-livestock interaction protocol identifies the expectation of at least two proactive deterrence measures.
Department staff and the producer discussed additional deterrent strategies (including the use of fladry and Foxlights) but agreed the use of range riders would be the most effective additional deterrent, given that the cow-calf operation takes place in an unfenced allotment in rugged terrain. Later on May 20, the producer deployed a range rider and made plans to rotate several riders from the Northeast Washington Wolf-Cattle Collaborative and WDFW to provide ongoing daily or near-daily coverage.
The presence of the Togo pack was confirmed during the WDFW annual wolf population survey in late 2017, following a series of events in October and November that coincided with multiple wolf sightings by local residents.
On Oct. 27, 2017, a livestock producer shot and killed a wolf that was in the act of attacking his livestock in northern Ferry County. In early November, WDFW confirmed two additional reports of wolf depredations on livestock in the same area. The information gained from those investigations suggested the presence of a new wolf pack. Additional details appear in WDFW’s Nov. 9, 2017, wolf update and the November 2017 monthly update, available here.
The pack was officially named in March 2018 after Togo Mountain, southeast of Danville near the U.S.-Canada border.