Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Kelly Susewind today (Sept.24, 2024) approved lethal removal of one adult wolf from the Couse wolf pack territory in southeast Washington, in response to repeated livestock depredations 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 authorizing lethal removal of Couse pack wolves is as follows:
WDFW has documented five depredation events including one dead calf, confirmed injuries on a cow and two calves, along with probable injuries on another cow within a 10-month rolling window of time.
At least two (in this case, more than two) proactive deterrence measures and responsive deterrence measures were implemented by the affected livestock producer, prior to these depredation events. They included daily to near-daily range riding, human presence, removing sick and injured livestock from the range, and livestock carcass sanitation.
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.
WDFW staff discussed the recent depredations by the Couse wolf pack and associated effectiveness of the nonlethal deterrence tools. Staff determined that range riding occurred on a daily/near-daily basis, along with regular human presence. Despite this, staff believes depredations will likely continue given recent pack behavior.
Director Susewind agreed and authorized the lethal removal operation through midnight of Oct. 8, 2024, before entering into an evaluation period. The lethal removal operation may be extended if additional wolf depredations are documented.
Previous updates
2024 Couse pack updates:
WDFW will provide a final report on this and any other lethal removal actions during 2024 in the Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2024 Annual Report, which will be published during spring 2025.
A summary of all documented depredation activity within the past 10 months is included in every monthly wolf update.