Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has directed the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to create new rules on when wolves can be killed for conflict with livestock, prioritizing nonlethal methods of conflict deterrence.
The move is in response to an appeal filed by environmental groups in November last year. The commission earlier denied the petition, but the groups appealed it to the governor shortly thereafter.
“In the meantime, the number of wolf packs, successful breeding pairs and individual wolves in Washington has continued to increase every year, while levels of livestock depredation and wolf removals have remained low even with wolf range expansion and population increase,” the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
