Wildlife biologists find possible wolf pack
Gray wolves vanished from Washington in 1930s
YAKIMA – Washington state Fish and Wildlife biologists and wolf experts from Idaho captured what they believe are two wolves Friday in western Okanogan County, a development that could confirm the first wolf pack in Washington since the animals were eradicated decades ago.
The biologists fitted both animals with radio collars to track their movements and learn more about them. They also took hair samples for DNA testing to confirm the animals are not hybrids, state Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Madonna Luers said.
However, one of the wolves was a lactating female nursing pups, Luers said, and domesticated hybrid animals are not known to reproduce in the wild.
“We’re always cautious,” Luers said. “But if we do get results back and they show these are actual wolves, this will be solid confirmation of Washington’s first resident wolf pack since the species disappeared from the state in the 1930s.”
Test results are expected in a couple of weeks.
After being hunted to near-extinction and listed as an endangered species in 1974, gray wolves were reintroduced to the northern Rockies in the mid-1990s. Wolves are considered endangered in Washington state and were never reintroduced here.
Wildlife biologists have known from radio-collar transmissions that wolves sometimes roamed into Washington from Montana or Idaho, and individual wolf sightings have been reported in the state. But resident wolf breeding pairs or packs have not been confirmed.
In recent years, packers made numerous reports of wolves in Okanogan County’s high country, and the number of reports in the county’s Methow Valley also grew.
On July 7, biologists conducted a “howling survey” in the area in search of a wolf pack and heard both adult and juvenile howls in response.
“Howling was the first step. This is the second step. The third step will be getting the DNA results,” Luers said. If confirmed, the findings would be historic, she said.
“The species has been gone, in terms of a reproducing animal or species, something that’s actually going to build a population and be a part of our wildlife heritage again,” Luers said. “That’s what’s exciting about this.”