Washington state’s plan to kill wolf pack riles advocates

SPOKANE, WASH. Some wolf advocates are outraged that the state is preparing for the second time to exterminate an entire wolf pack for preying on livestock in northeastern Washington state.

This is the second time in four years that a pack of endangered wolves has received the death penalty because of the grazing of privately owned cattle on publicly owned lands, the Center for Biological Diversity said.

Washington is home to about 90 wolves, and killing the 11 members of the Profanity Peak pack would amount to 12 per cent.

“By no stretch of the imagination can killing 12 per cent of the state’s tiny population of 90 wolves be consistent with recovery,” said Amaroq Weiss, of the Center for Biological Diversity, on Thursday.

Last week, the Washington De- partment of Fish and Wildlife announced it would exterminate the Profanity Peak pack in Ferry County near the B.C. border. Since mid-July, the agency has confirmed that wolves have killed or injured six cattle and probably five others, based on staff investigations.

Jim Unsworth, director of the agency, authorized the wolf hunts between the towns of Republic and Kettle Falls.

Wildlife officials shot two pack members Aug. 5, but temporarily ended wolf-removal efforts after two weeks passed without more evidence of wolf predation on cattle.

Since 2008, the state’s wolf population has grown from two wolves in one pack to at least 90 in 19 packs.

Wolves were hunted to extinction in Washington at the beginning of the last century.