The number of gray wolves in Washington nearly doubled in the past year, according to a new survey released Friday by the state Department of Fish and?Wildlife.
The survey found at least 51 wolves in nine packs in Washington, including five successful breeding pairs. The 2011 study documented just 27 wolves, five wolf packs and three breeding?pairs.
Wildlife wolf program director Nate Pamplin said the actual number of wolves is likely much higher, since lone wolves often go uncounted and those that roam Washington but do not den there are not included in the survey. Biologists already suspect??
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Background and the latest updates
By the?numbers
51: Number of gray wolves in nine packs recorded in a new study released by the state Department of Fish and?Wildlife.
27: Number of wolves in five wolf packs counted in a 2011?study.
100: Estimated number of wolves in?Washington.
The number of gray wolves in Washington nearly doubled in the past year, according to a new survey released Friday by the state Department of Fish and?Wildlife.
The survey found at least 51 wolves in nine packs in Washington, including five successful breeding pairs. The 2011 study documented just 27 wolves, five wolf packs and three breeding?pairs.
Wildlife wolf program director Nate Pamplin said the actual number of wolves is likely much higher, since lone wolves often go uncounted and those that roam Washington but do not den there are not included in the survey. Biologists already suspect there are two additional wolf packs in the?state.
Using estimates of the average pack size in other Western states, Pamplin said there could easily be as many as 100 wolves in?Washington.
?The survey shows that our state?s wolf population is growing quickly,? Pamplin said in a news release. ?That growth appears to be the result of both natural reproduction and the continuing in-migration of wolves from Canada and neighboring?states.?
The recovery of wolves in Washington is a heated topic. While many environmental groups hail the development, advocates for ranchers blame wolves for killing livestock. Several bills intended to improve wolf management are pending in the Legislature, including a tongue-in-cheek proposal to import wolves from rural parts of Eastern Washington to populous Western?Washington.
A wolf pack is defined as two or more wolves traveling together. A successful breeding pair is defined as an adult male and female with at least two pups that survive until the end of the calendar?year.
One of the nine packs represented in the survey is the infamous Wedge pack, which now has two confirmed members in northeastern Washington. Last summer, the Department of Fish and Wildlife killed most members of that pack to end a series of attacks on an area rancher?s cattle that left at least six calves dead and 10 other animals?injured.
Pamplin said biologists do not know whether the two wolves living near the Canadian border in Stevens County are members of the original Wedge pack or whether they are new arrivals from inside or outside the?state.
?Either way, we were confident that wolves would repopulate that area,? he said. ?We really hope to prevent the kind of situation we faced with the Wedge pack last summer by working with ranchers to use nonlethal methods to protect their?livestock.?
State Sen. John Smith, R-Colville, said the growing number of wolves shows that recovery is exceeding?expectations.
?We must put a plan in place now for wolf population management as recovery targets are reached,? Smith said, adding that the state must ?act now to provide for public safety and economic?safeguards.?
Noah Greenwald, with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity in Portland, said wolves have the ability to reproduce?quickly.
?Wolves have a tremendous ability to recover,? he said. ?They are smart, adaptable?animals.?
He cautioned opponents of wolves to learn to live with the?animals.
?Polls show the majority of people want to see wolves return and are glad to see wolves return,? Greenwald?said.
The gray wolf is listed by the state as an endangered species throughout Washington and is federally listed as endangered in the western two-thirds of the state. Once common, wolves were eliminated in most Western states during the past century because they preyed on?livestock.
? Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Source: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/feb/17/wolves-in-washington-nearly-double-in-year/
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