Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Kelly Susewind today (July 15, 2024) rejected the option of lethal removal of a wolf or wolves from the Couse wolf pack in southeast Washington, in response to repeated depredations of cattle in Asotin County.
Director Susewind's decision is consistent with the guidance of the state's Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and the lethal removal provisions of the Department's 2017 wolf-livestock interaction protocol (PDF).
The rationale for not authorizing lethal removal of Couse pack wolves is as follows:
WDFW has documented four depredation events in the pack territory resulting in one dead and three injured livestock since June 27, 2024, all attributed to the Couse pack. All events except one were considered confirmed wolf depredation incidents; the other incident was considered a probable wolf depredation.
At least two (in this case, more than two) proactive deterrence measures and responsive deterrence measures (if applicable) were implemented by the affected livestock producer in early June, prior to depredations events. They included range riding, removing injured cattle from the range, carcass sanitation, and delaying the turnout of calves until they grow to 200 or more pounds.
The Department documented these deterrents in the agency's "wolf-livestock mitigation measures" checklist, with date entries for deterrent tools and coordination with the producer. The proactive and reactive non-lethal deterrence measures implemented by the livestock producer were those best suited for their operations in the professional judgment of WDFW staff.
WDFW staff discussed the recent depredations by the Couse wolf pack and associated effectiveness of the nonlethal deterrence tools implemented by the affected livestock producers. Staff determined that range riding occurred on a daily/near daily basis, along with regular human presence.
An adult male wolf from this pack was killed after reportedly chasing livestock on July 8. A prosecutorial review of the incident determined it to be a lawful act in the defense of property. Prior to that incident, staff believed the Couse pack to be made up of two-to-three adult wolves and an unknown number of pups. The death of the male wolf could disrupt depredation patterns of the pack. Because of this, WDFW staff recommended to Director Susewind to enter an evaluation period to assess if the pack’s behavior changes and Susewind agreed.
Previous updates
2024 Couse pack updates:
A summary of all documented depredation activity within the past 10 months is included in every monthly wolf report.