ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Washington wildlife managers have given a reprieve to four wolves targeted for killing in the state’s northeastern corner.

But the wolves aren't taking a holiday.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife said Thursday that it was giving the temporary reprieve to give its team in the field a break, to avoid running into people outdoors on Labor Day and to evaluate what it’s learned so far about the pack’s activities. Officials say they’ll reconsider next week.

Then they received a new report of a wolf depredation on cattle in northern Stevens County, which is being investigated today.

The move announced Thursday to bring staff out of the field came after protests from conservation groups who argued that there’s little evidence the Stevens County pack, known as the Wedge pack, were to blame for recent depredations on the Diamond M ranch. Eight livestock have been injured or killed since last month, most recently in mid-August.

Officials killed one wolf Aug. 7 and planned to kill up to four more.

The conservation groups include Cascadia Wildlands and the Center for Biological Diversity. The department maintains that the wolves are responsible.

If you still have a full appetite for the past week's regional wolf news, here's an assortment of stories compiled and headlined by Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman Magazine:

Wolves Are Confirmed To Have Killed 54 Cows, Sheep And Other Stock In Oregon

WDFW Ends Its Fruitless Hunt For Wedge Wolves, Though At Least Figures Out There Are 11 Up There

WDFW, ODFW Want To Manage All Wolves In Their Respective States On Their Own, AP Reports (About A Couple Weeks After We Did)

There's Another Pack Of Wolves In The Wallowas, At Least Seven Up The Minam River

A Bunch Of Wolf Groups Take Credit For Getting WDFW To Call Off The Wedge Wolf Hunt

WDFW Says, Look, We've Been Hunting Those Wolves For 12 Days, Time To Give The Boys In The Field A Break, Plus It's Labor Day Weekend

Anderson Will Provide A Wolf Update To Fish & Wildlife Commissioners On Sept. 5

Decomposed Body Of Dead Young Wolf Found In Wedge

Spokesman-Review Map Shows Range Of Wedge Wolves Over 1-month Summer Period

Gets The County Wrong In The Headline & Lead, But Captures The Essence Of The Wedge Problem

WDFW Wolf Manager Says, Look, People Are Going To Disagree About Whether Wolves Killed Something Or Not; At The End Of The Day, Agency Makes The Final Determination