The number of wolves is rising in Washington state, even though breeding pairs have declined by one, according to data released this week through the statewide firm that tracks their numbers.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that company workers and partners from several tribes in the domain counted 260 wolves in 42 packs in the Evergreen state. This represents an increase of around 20% through 2023, and is the fifteenth consecutive year that wolf numbers have increased.
Although it increased from the 216 wolves counted in 2023, the number of breeding pairs, which raised at least two pups until the end of 2023, decreased from one as of 2023, to 25.
The vast majority of wolves live in eastern Washington state; some have begun to be seen in Cascades, which is critical to the state’s recovery efforts.
“Although the first pack to recolonize the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast Recovery Region had only one wolf in year-end counts in 2023, we observed several ring-necked wolves south of Interstate 90 last year,” WDFW Director Kelly Susewind said in a statement press release. This means that it is only a matter of time before new packets begin to be identified in this recovery region. “
Just to the east, Idaho is home to about 1,337 wolves, but that number stands in 2022.
Asked Tuesday, Rick Ward, Idaho’s state fish and game official, said the effects of the 2023 wolf survey aren’t expected to be released until July.
But last year, former Idaho Fish and Game Director Ed Schriever, who retired in February, noted that the estimated number of 1,337 wolves living in the Gem State by 2022 is too high for the state’s wildlife managers.
“Fish and Game personnel, hunters, trappers and other partners and agencies have made concerted efforts to confront wolves and livestock and balance the wolf population with prey species, especially elk,” Schriever said in a January 2023 press release. “We are encouraged through efforts that have resulted in a decline in wolf numbers, and this aligns with our long-term purpose of reducing Idaho’s wolf population.
“We’d like to see it vary by about 500, which is defined in our draft wolf control plan and aligns with the federal rule that excludes wolves from the list. “Wolves had been hunted to extinction in the early 20th century, but were reintroduced. to Idaho in 1995 and rebounded in Washington state in 2008.
Since then, its recovery has continued to generate controversy among teams such as ranchers’ associations who argue that states aren’t doing enough for the cattle industry and teams advocating for allowing some semblance of herbal balance in the country’s wild spaces.
Ben Maletzke, a wolf specialist in Washington state, noted that while the number of wolves in the state continues to grow, the state has not suffered the corresponding livestock losses.
The state experienced 23 instances of “evidenced or probable” predation in 2023, and about 78% of known herds were involved in some livestock attack. Nine of them were involved in at least one proven or probable attack, and only two herds suffered two or more attacks on livestock, according to the statement.
“Ranchers have worked intensively with WDFW over the past year, as well as network partners and riders, to use non-lethal strategies to deter wolves from negatively interacting with domestic animals,” Maletzke said in the statement.
“These proactive and reactive efforts require investments of time and resources by ranchers and others, but they have reduced the number of wolf predations and fatal deaths. “
Washington published the first review of wolves’ prestige in the state and called for wolves to be reclassified to delicate prestige based on significant progress toward recovery goals. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is expected to take a resolution on the proposed reclassification in July.
But Amaroq Weiss, a wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, criticized Washington policymakers for scaling back protections for wolves.
“The branch says a relief in wolf coverage would show it is moving toward recovery, but this report tells another story,” Weiss said in a news release.
“Real progress demands a continued commitment to offer protection to wolves so that they can disperse safely in the 3 recovery regions and identify territories and families. “
She said the state reported that at least 36 wolves died in 2023.
Of those, 3 died due to livestock-related conflicts. Twenty-two others died as a result of tribal hunting through the Confederate tribes on the Colville Reservation, who retain tribal treaty rights to hunt on their reservation. Five wolves died as a result of collisions with cars and one was killed by a mountain lion.
Of the remaining five known deaths, 4 are still under investigation and one died of unknown causes.
Washington’s plan for wolves divides the state into three recovery regions with a designated breeding pair population for each.
No breeding pairs have been established in the third recovery region, which is the southern Cascades and the northern coast.
Weiss argued that if state administrators were successful in cutting national protections against wolves, that could lead to more permits being granted to ranchers to kill or harm wolves and a reduction in habitat protections.
“Even the state knows that some of Washington’s wolf habitat is in the third recovery region, in the western part of the state,” Weiss said. “I am pleased to see that the company has significantly reduced its own wolf kills this year. ” year, but with 36 deaths, fewer breeding pairs and none in the third recovery region, wolves still want protection.
“Rather than give in to the political tension of warring wolf sides, the ministry continues to focus on non-lethal prevention measures and education. “
Earlier this year, the federal government announced it was refusing to repair coverage for wolves in the western United States after locating the animals as endangered.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in February it was rejecting petitions seeking protection for gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act. This discovery kept control of the species under state control in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and parts of eastern Oregon and Washington.
The company also announced it would begin work on a national recovery plan for the species, which is listed as endangered in 44 states and threatened in Minnesota. Work on this plan is expected to be completed by December 12, 2025.
The public can submit comments on the ministry’s proposal until May 6.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on April 24, 2024, to explain that wolves were rediscovered in Washington in 2008.