Another calf found dead as ranchers question state wolf investigations

A northeast Washington cattle rancher says wolves killed a three-day-old calf from his operation last week. Len McIrvin is owner of the Diamond M Ranch in Laurier, Wash. That's the ranch where Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife officials in September 2012 killed six wolves from the Wedge Pack. The wolves had killed at least 17 cattle from the ranch. The killed calf was dragged from a barbed wire calving enclosure 200 yards from human presence, McIrvin said. There were fresh wolf tracks nearby in the river, he said. "We know it was a wolf, but they can't confirm it because the calf was 95 percent eaten up," he said, noting coyote tracks were also found in the area. Stephanie Simek, WDFW wildlife conflict section manager, said the case was unconfirmed as a wolf kill because there were signs of coyotes in the area. The six-strand barbed wire fence did not show signs of a larger carnivore entering the area, she said. "The issue was the carcass was so far gone, you really couldn't get a lot of those measurements," said Dave Ware, WDFW game program manager. "You just couldn't tell for sure what killed it." The Stevens County Cattlemen's Association believes the department's unconfirmed ruling on the calf shows a "troubling trend" in which the department does not confirm wolf kills, a determination that could lead to killing the predators. Association spokesperson Jamie Henneman said WDFW needs to clearly outline how they will deal with wolves. "Right now we are seeing the department buckle under pressure from environmental groups who have absolutely no skin in the game," she said. "There is no impact to their finances or livelihood if wolf management is done in a poor, watery or slipshod fashion. Band-aid payments of compensation will not solve this problem."...more