This is a weekly update for the Togo pack following the lethal removal authorization by WDFW Director Kelly Susewind on June 19.
On June 19, WDFW Director Kelly Susewind reauthorized Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) staff to lethally remove wolves from the Togo pack territory in response to repeated depredations (an attack on livestock that causes injury or death) of cattle on 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 (PDF). The removal reauthorization allows for no more than two wolves to be removed through the issuance of a lethal removal permit and WDFW removal efforts.
WDFW has not removed any wolves since the authorization, but made multiple attempts. WDFW has not documented any wolf depredations in the Togo pack territory since June 6. As of the date of this update, the pack has been involved in one depredation in the last 10 months and zero in the last 30 days.
WDFW’s approach to incremental removal consists of a period of active operations followed by an evaluation period to determine if those actions changed the pack’s behavior (for example by disrupting the overlap of wolves and livestock or the pattern of repeated depredation). The department has now entered an evaluation period.
If WDFW documents additional livestock depredations indicating a renewed pattern of depredation, the Department may initiate another lethal removal action following the guidelines of the Wolf Plan and 2017 wolf-livestock interaction protocol (PDF).
Previous updates
2020 Togo pack updates
A summary of all documented depredation activity within the past ten months is included in every monthly wolf update.