Rural Washington ranchers urge relocation of wolf packs — to western Washington

Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review via The Associated Press

Rancher Dave Dashiell gives a tight-lipped testimony to officials from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife about his frustration with wolves that threaten his flocks at meeting in Colville, Washington. “It’s awfully hard to outrun a pack of wolves with a flock of sheep,” he said. Ranchers in northeastern Washington offered a simple solution to keep wolves from killing their livestock: Pack up the predators and ship them to western Washington.

By Nicholas K. Geranios / The Associated Press

Published Oct 10, 2014

COLVILLE, Wash. — Ranchers in northeastern Washington offered a simple solution to keep wolves from killing their livestock: Pack up the predators and ship them to western Washington.

The suggestion came Tuesday night at a contentious meeting held by the Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Stevens County town of Colville, where anti-wolf sentiment runs deep. “Why not take some to western Washington and build the packs over there?” asked John Moore, echoing a recurring theme during the four-hour meeting attended by about 200 people. 

Liberal western Washington, where most of the state’s population lives, is where sentiment has been strongest to restore the wolf population. “We don’t want them here,” added Ken Barker of Loon Lake. “We want them gone. Take them to Olympia.” 

Even elected officials joined the call for relocation, with Ferry County Commissioner Mike Blankenship also suggesting that wolves be sent west. Relocating wolves would be expensive and require federal and state reviews, said Steve Pozzanghera, the department’s eastern regional director.

The overwhelmingly anti-wolf crowd also expressed little sympathy for state efforts to recover wolf populations.

Agency director Phil Anderson made opening comments that proved to be an understatement. “I know some of the answers we give you won’t be satisfactory to you,” he said. Many of the comments by agency officials were met with boos and cat calls. Officials were accused of incompetence and even of deliberately trying to drive ranchers out of business in a government conspiracy to grab the land.

Wolves were killed off in Washington in the early 1900s. But this century, they started to return, migrating from Idaho and British Columbia. Fish and Wildlife estimates that at the end of 2013, there were at least 52 wolves in 13 packs roaming eastern Washington. Since then, two more packs have been identified. Of the 15 packs, 12 are in the mountainous northeastern portion of the state, where most issues involving livestock have occurred. 

Okanogan County Commissioner Jim DeTro said the state has created a sort of “Jurassic Park” by promoting the establishment of wolves in livestock country. “We’ve got wolves in every corner of our county,” DeTro said.

Suggestions that wolves should be shot on sight and secretly buried were met with applause. A handful of people who spoke on behalf of wolves were booed. It was a difficult summer for ranchers in wolf country. At least 33 sheep were killed or injured, and a cow and calf were killed.

Dave Dashiell had his 1,800 sheep repeatedly attacked by members of the Huckleberry wolf pack in August. “There isn’t any place in northeast Washington where you can go where there aren’t wolves,” Dashiell said. “It’s pretty tough to outrun a wolf pack with a band of sheep.”

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