Three Wolves Targeted After Killing Cattle

Three of the six remaining adult wolves in Montana’s Ninemile Valley pack will be killed because the pack is preying on cattle.

Joe Fontaine, a wolf biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the Ninemile wolves have killed five calves since April.

“It is becoming a habitual situation,” Fontaine said. He hopes killing half the pack’s adults will break the pattern and reduce the pack’s need for meat. Three adults and perhaps four pups would remain.

He said the dominant female of the pack will be released if caught because the pups are still nursing. Any trapped pups will be released as well.

Fontaine said he was baffled by the pack’s turn to livestock it has coexisted with for nine years. In the past, the wolves have killed an average of just a cow a year.

“There’s no rhyme or reason,” Fontaine said. “The whitetail (deer) abundance is high in that area, and the wolves have co-existed with the cattle since 1990.”