Howls in Okanogan area signal of wolves' return?
A Seattle Times article by Warren Cornwall on the possible return of wolves to Washington State.
The howls in the forests of north-central Washington have added more
evidence that gray wolves have returned to the state.
More than 70 years after the last wolf pack was wiped out here, state
biologists checking reports of wolf sightings in the Okanogan region
recently heard howls that sound like both adult and young wolves, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday.
The howls from different generations suggest a wolf pack could be here to
stay, rather than simply a lone wolf straying from Canada or Idaho.
The arrival here of federally protected wolves has been long expected
because their populations have expanded since reintroduction in the northern
Rocky Mountains. But it's fraught with political implications and has
ignited fierce debates.
Champions of wolves see them as key to a healthy ecosystem and a romantic
symbol of wild nature.
"It's pretty exciting," said John Blankenship, executive director of Wolf
Haven International, a wolf conservation group based in Tenino, Thurston
County.
Opponents fear they will prey on livestock and bring heavy-handed government
involvement through the Endangered Species Act.
"I guarantee that there isn't a livestock operator in Okanogan County that
this is comforting news to," said Jack Field of the Washington Cattlemen's
Association.
The suspected wolf pack was found west of state Highway 97, meaning it's
still federally protected under the Endangered Species Act and it would be
illegal to kill them in most circumstances.
Wolves in Washington east of the highway, as well as in Idaho, Montana and
Wyoming, were taken off the federal Endangered Species list earlier this
year.
State biologists in the next few weeks hope to get final proof by trapping
at least one of the wolves, fitting it with a radio collar and taking a DNA
sample.
Until then, the state won't say for sure it's wolves. But an experienced
wolf biologist who heard the howls seemed confident, said state Fish and
Wildlife spokeswoman Madonna Luers.
"He was pretty pumped," she said.
