Unsustainable Wolves
Have thoughts? WDFW wants your comments!
This spring, the K-Diamond-K Guest Ranch, a much-loved Ferry County tourist attraction, is under a relentless attack by wolves. The newly discovered “Scatter Pack” is creating such a problem for the McKay family that it’s starting to impact normal guest activities. Tribal trackers estimate the pack has six to eight animals, and biologists have collared a nursing female which is apparently denning on the property.
According to ranch owner and operator, Kathy McKay, the ranch has been feeling growing pressure from nearby wolf packs for several years, but this year is the worst it’s ever been. The first confirmed wolf depredation was in April, with the loss of an alpaca. Next, two donkeys were attacked, one fatally. Five and a half weeks later, the donkey which had survived the first attack was killed. More recently, a colt was found with unusual injuries, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologists are working to determine if this is the fourth official wolf depredation.
In addition to “proven” depredations, where a wolf biologist can determine that an injured or killed animal was actually attacked by wolves, there have been numerous other livestock losses this year at the K-Diamond-K and neighboring properties. North of the K-Diamond-K, a horse carcass was found, and a trail cam captured wolves feeding on that carcass.
The K-Diamond-K has also lost piglets and newborn calves. The wolves would have eaten the baby animals whole, leaving no “proof” of a wolf depredation. In addition, the McKays decided to put down an older longhorn cow which was too arthritic to be able to make the long walk to a safer pasture.
There has been so much wolf activity on the ranch that the McKays have decided to limit their traditional daily trail ride because the horses are so skittish and nervous out on the trails. This means that the Scatter Pack is impacting the ranch’s bottom line, as trail rides are a significant source of income for the ranch and a favorite activity for many of the guests.
Short on sleep and short on solutions
In addition to the cost of lost livestock and the inability for guests get out and experience nature, The McKays are running short on sleep. The WDFW wolf management policies place the burden for reducing wolf-livestock conflict on the landowners. Landowners are required to install reactive deterrents, like fladry, Fox lights, electric fencing if possible and to employ range riders.
Currently, there are no range riders available, so the McKays or their friends must spend the nights protecting the livestock—an almost impossible task with many head of cattle and horses dispersed across the 1700-acre ranch. Kathy McKay has also called on nearby Colville tribal members for help. In Ferry County, the Colville Tribes jointly manages the wolves with the WDFW, and have hunting rights by treaty.
Josephine Pakootas, one of the tribal members taking night shifts to protect the livestock told a reporter, "Non-tribal members don't have enough rights to protect their own land, and they are not given enough rights to protect their animals, and so I'm out here to protect a family's way of life." While the goal is to change wolf behavior with the negative stimuli, when a pack is this much of a threat, tribal members can help to rebalance the predator and prey relationship.
Unsustainable and Unreasonable
According to WDFW’s Seth Thompson, the priority of the department is to avoid lethal removal or relocation of animals. As a result, landowners must suffer many livestock losses before the department will even begin to consider lethal removal of a problem animal or pack. Starting from the first depredation, landowners must employ the reactive deterrents faithfully and follow other WDFW recommendations as much as possible. Only after three proven wolf depredations in 30 days or 4 depredations in 10 months, will the department begin to consider lethal removal, and then only if the landowner can prove he or she has employed the deterrents.
Even if the department agrees to lethal removal, this is done incrementally, one animal at a time. In the meantime, landowners must continue to work overtime to protect their animals and families from the fierce and dangerous predators. The existing rules and regulations do not allow for common-sense on-the-ground decisions made by local authorities which would be more effective in changing the behavior of problem packs. The existing rules CREATE human-wolf conflict rather than mitigating it.
Ferry County has an unsustainable number of resident wolf packs. There are ten documented packs including the newly-formed Scatter pack. Stevens, Pend Orielle, and Okanogan counties are experiencing similar problems. These wolves are putting pressure on local herds of deer, elk and moose. Even some tribal members feel the natural system is out of balance. As the ungulate herds are decimated, what else is left for wolves to eat but livestock and pets?
WDFW wants your comments!
Fortunately, we are in the middle of a WDFW ‘Periodic Status Review for the Gray Wolf’. You can view the draft document, and leave comments at the WDFW public input page. The WDFW’s draft recommendation is to reclassify the wolf to “state sensitive,” defined as “vulnerable or declining and is likely to become endangered or threatened in a significant portion of its range within the state without cooperative management or removal of threats.” I think reclassification is a positive recommendation, but it doesn’t go far enough. That’s because “...downlisting wolves to state sensitive status would continue to protect them under RCW 77.15.130 and protections precluding hunting would remain in place.”
Consider these thoughts as you prepare to leave YOUR comments for the WDFW. The Federal Government has already delisted the gray wolf in the eastern third of Washington state. So why does the WDFW still insist on classifying the gray wolf at the state level, rather than by regions?
Why don’t we delist wolves in eastern Washington, and allow limited hunting, especially where packs have become habituated to humans and attack livestock? Why can’t we revise the rules for lethal control, and give more control to local authorities? Why don’t we relocate excess animals in Eastern Washington to Western Washington to relieve population pressure and to more quickly reach the recovery targets for the state?
These are good questions, and with your input, the WDFW can begin to develop some better answers.
Nancy Churchill is a writer and marketing consultant in rural eastern Washington State, and the state committeewoman for the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own. Dangerous Rhetoric is also available on Rumble.
SOURCES:
1) WDFW Draft Periodic Status Review - Gray Wolf (Submit your comments after reading the plan). https://bit.ly/45HqhJD
2) WDFW seeks public comment on draft periodic status review for Washington wolves. A summary of the status review process, current management of wolf populations, and proposed management changes. https://bit.ly/43mZnox
3) 'This is the worst it's been': Wolves take aim at Republic ranch livestock. Great video report from a local new reporter. https://bit.ly/3MTZW2a
4) WDFW - Gray wolf (Canis lupus). Did not use in this article, but great information. https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/canis-lupus
5) K-diamond-K Guest Ranch. https://www.k-diamond-k.com/
You can also follow rancher, owner and host Kathy McKay on facebook.