Don Jenkins
Capital Press
Central Washington rancher Sam Kayser has lost a second cow to wolves despite extensive preventive measures.
An Ellensburg rancher who has lost two cows to Washington’s western-most wolf pack says he still hopes to coexist with wolves, but that financially and emotionally he can’t take ongoing depredations.
“I’m not going to go for that. I don’t know what I’d do about it. We’d have to cross that bridge when we came to it,” Sam Kayser said Monday.
In mid-June, Kayser turned loose about 180 cow-calf pairs on a state grazing allotment north of Cle Elum in Central Washington. The Teanaway pack, which has at least five members, has roamed the area since at least 2011, but it did not have a record of attacking livestock until this summer.
The state Department of Fish of Wildlife determined that a cow found dead Sept. 5 on U.S. Forest Service property near the state grazing land was killed by wolves. Wolves also killed a cow that was found on the state land in mid-July.
The depredations occurred even though Kayser has taken every possible step to prevent them, WDFW wolf policy coordinator Donny Martorello said.
Kayser has an agreement with WDFW to use non-lethal means to deter wolves. He shares the cost of employing a range rider with an environmental group, Conservation Northwest. The calves were kept in a fenced area away from wolves until they weighed more than 200 pounds.
The range rider can track the pack’s general location because three members have been fitted with radio collars.
“We have all the tools in place,” Martorello said. “There’s no way to take the risk to zero.”
A second producer grazes almost 2,000 sheep on Forest Service and private land in the area, according to WDFW. The producer lost at least three sheep to cougars this summer. In early September, another three ewes and two lambs were killed by predators, but the carcasses had been scavenged, and WDFW couldn’t identify the predator.
The sheep rancher has used a range rider and up to 11 dogs, according to WDFW. At times this summer, radio collars indicated wolves were in the immediate vicinity of the flock.
Also this year, wolves in northeast Washington have killed three cows and one calf and seriously injured a sheep dog. Those attacks took place where wolves are no longer a federally protected species. WDFW has said lethal removal would be the next step if more depredations occur.
In Central Washington, wolves are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, and shooting or relocating them are not options, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Ann Froschauer said.
With grazing season nearing an end, Kayser said he believes his cows are out of danger. The wolves have moved north.
Kayser said he, Conservation Northwest and WDFW are eager to prevent depredations next year. “I think it’s a unanimous thought. We don’t want that to happen,” he said.
But Kayser said he doesn’t know what else can be done to protect livestock.
“To me, it’s just frustrating. I’m not an extreme person,” he said. “I want to keep a balanced view of it, but I also have a responsibility to keep my animals safe.”