September 25, 2006

The Lick Creek wolf pack is in trouble; over the past three weeks, pack members have killed 43 sheep.

Most recently, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services confirmed on September 13 that pack members had killed nine ewes near Bear Saddle on Rapid River. Pack members around the end of August killed 34 sheep. The producer still is missing many more that are presumed dead.

Idaho Fish and Game has authorized the removal of up to five un-collared wolves from the Lick Creek pack.

Elsewhere in the past week, other wolves killed 20 sheep and injured five more. State officials have authorized the removal 13 wolves. Wildlife Services has killed three wolves so far, and planned on removing up to 10 more, including up to five Lick Creek pack members.

Between January 1 and September 15, federal and state agents have killed 26 wolves in Idaho, and another nine wolves have been killed by ranchers under the 10j rule. A total of 19 cattle and more than 120 sheep have been confirmed killed so far this year.

But those are only a small part of the domestic livestock that die in Idaho every year. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, most livestock in Idaho die from causes other than predators. And most of those killed by predators are killed or eaten by coyotes, which killed 70 percent of the 7,400 lambs lost to predators in 2005.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that in 2005, coyotes killed about 1,000 sheep and about 5,100 lambs. Domestic dogs killed about 300 lambs-the same number as killed by wolves. Both also killed about 200 sheep each. Bears killed about 500 lambs and 400 sheep, while mountain lions killed 400 lambs and about 100 sheep.

Overall, predators accounted for about 32 percent of 23,000 lamb deaths, and about 28 percent of about 9,000 sheep deaths-other causes included weather, disease, lambing complications and old age, the Statistics Service reports.

Also in 2005, coyotes killed about 600 calves while mountain lions and bobcats accounted for another 200, and other predators combined took 1,100. The total of about 2,000 calves killed by predators represents about 3 percent of all deaths that year. The biggest killers of calves were digestive and respiratory problems, with about 20,000 each.

About 500 adult cows were killed by predators, or about 1 percent of total losses in 2005, the Statistics Service reports.

When gray wolves were reintroduced in Idaho in 1995, federal officials pledged to control wolves that preyed on livestock. Wolf control actions are in no danger of jeopardizing wolf recovery in Idaho. Since their reintroduction in 1995 and 1996, the wolf population in Idaho has grown to about 650 wolves, according to preliminary new population estimates. Biologists estimate 74 packs, at least 31 potential breeding pairs, now live in Idaho, and 176 pups were born in Idaho this year. The estimated growth rate would be about 20 percent.

The Fish and Wildlife Service considers the wolf recovered in the northern Rocky Mountains. Federal officials are working on a proposal to remove wolves from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana separately from Wyoming, which would be a break from policy of considering wolves in all three states together.