State offers to train Sheriffs on wolf kills

Washington state wildlife officials said they’re willing to train Stevens County sheriff’s deputies on how to identify livestock that has been killed by wolves. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers will be the lead investigators but additional trained eyes at the scene can only help, said Bruce Bjork, the agency’s chief of enforcement. “We’ll certainly take whatever assistance we can get from the county, whether that’s initial response when a call comes in to assistance at the scene,” he said. “We’re going to try to work as jointly as possible with the counties.” Stevens County Sheriff Kendle Allen has proposed forming his own investigative team for livestock predation. He’s basing the concept on Wallowa County, Ore., where sheriff’s deputies investigate suspected wolf kills alongside state wildlife officials. The Wallowa County sheriff’s department got involved because local ranchers distrusted Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife agents, Allen said. In Wallowa County, “the sheriff is used like a second opinion, and that’s what we’re looking at here,” he said. “If we do have a suspected wolf kill, we’ll have deputies trained to go out and look at remains, the tracks and investigate it.” Allen said a county investigation team would uphold “the rights of our local cattlemen and property owners … and if they have some type of restitution coming, make sure they have every chance of collecting it.”...more

And in New Mexico?