The gray wolf population in Washington state has increased by more than 30 percent in 2014, according to a survey by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) which was unveiled on March 6, 2015.
Not only did the population increase, it also formed four new packs according to the data derived from the state’s annual survey.
This takes the number of packs from 12 up to 16 and the number of gray wolves in the state from 52 to 68. These numbers take into account the 10 recorded wolf deaths that the state saw last year.
In addition, the state found that there are now a minimum of five successful breeding pairs.
Gray wolves in Washington, which were all but eliminated from western states in the last century according to a CBS Seattle report, were responsible for the deaths of 35 sheep in the state.
The survey recorded the presence of wolves between December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2014.
WDFW carnivore specialist Donny Martorello was quoted by Tech Times as having said that “the number of confirmed wolf packs has more than tripled” in the state since 2011.
While we can’t count every wolf in the state, the formation of four new packs is clear evidence that wolves are recovering in Washington […] Since 2011, the number of confirmed wolf packs has more than tripled in our state.
The recent count employed aerial surveys, wolf tracks, remote cameras and signals from tracking collars attached to wolves in order to gain insight into the state’s wolf population.
In other coverage of the wild carnivorous mammals from the dog family here on Immortal News, the famed wolf named “Echo” was accidentally shot and killed by a coyote hunter in southern Utah after the hunter mistook the legendary wolf for a coyote.
