Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife helicopters are in the air now to kill members of the Profanity wolf pack. Why? To protect cattle on public lands.

The decision was made under the guidelines of a new lethal removal protocol that was agreed to this spring by the state Wolf Advisory Group, a stakeholder group convened by WA Fish and Wildlife that includes agency staff and reps from the ranching, hunting and conservation community.

According to the protocol agreed to by the advisory group, lethal removal of wolves is considered after four confirmed depredations in one calendar year and requires that the affected ranchers have employed sanitation measures to avoid attracting wolves to livestock carcasses and have tried at least one proactive measure to deter conflicts with wolves at the time the livestock losses took place.

The kill order was issued following investigations concluding the wolves recently killed a fourth calf belonging to the Diamond M Ranch, the same operation that called for killing the Washington’s Wedge Pack in 2012. All the losses occurred on public lands grazing allotments in the remote and relatively roadless northeast corner of the state.

While the agency’s use of nonlethal measures to try to prevent conflict is a positive step, should we allow the killing of our nation’s wildlife on public lands? What say you?

Ways to take action.