Washington Cougars Seriously Don’t Like Wolves

By Andy Walgamott, on May 8th, 2014

 

Two Northeast Washington wolves were recently killed, including one by a mountain lion, at least the third to die in the state by feline fangs in the past year. “We’ve got some tough cats in the state of Washington,” notes WDFW game division manager Dave Ware.

The incident is recorded in his agency’s weekly Wildlife Program report for April 21-28. It reports:

Wolf Conservation and Management Smackout wolf: Conflict Specialist Shepherd, Biologists Roussin and Prince, Sergeant Taylor, and Extension Agent Niemeyer observed the carcass of the radio-collared male wolf in the Smackout pack that was killed and consumed by a cougar. The remains were cached, the carcass was heavily consumed, and large piles of mountain lion scat were present

( I have omitted an image that shows the wolf’s remains, due to its graphic nature. Lin)

Ware says that in reading records from the Northern Rockies he found some similar incidences, as well as wolf on lion attacks, but the number of incidents in Washington “seems to be higher” relative to the state’s population of wolves.

Late this past winter a male loner from the Teanaway Pack was tackled by a cat and partially eaten, and last June a yearling from the same group was killed most likely by a cougar. As for the other wolf that died of late, it was the Ruby Creek female that last winter was impregnated by a local sheepdog and then spayed by WDFW in early March to prevent it from having hybrid pups. Ware reports it was hit by a car and killed recently. It and another female wolf had been hanging out in the Ione area over the winter.

In other Washington wolf news, there continue to be reports of activity near Ewan and Rock Lake, in the northern Palouse. A state conflict specialist who previously put up trail cams to catch activity there several months ago posted a note to WDFW’s wolf observation map that on April 18 a “grey colored wolf on hillside near creek (was) observed for a few minutes.” Ware says that despite the area’s open nature, the reports over the past few years is “making us wonder if something isn’t established there.”

Probably safer from cougars at any rate.

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