Wildlife managers in Wyoming killed a record number of wolves last year — 113 — after attacks on livestock almost doubled.
A report released “by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that wolves killed 243 livestock, including 154 cattle, 88 sheep and one horse, in 2016. In 2015, 134 livestock deaths attributed to wolves were recorded,” says The Flathead Beacon. In 2015, 54 wolves were exterminated. The last record number of wolf-exterminations was in 2006 at 63.
“I don’t think we’ll ever know with any certainty why one year is bad and another year not quite so bad,” said Scott Becker, a wolf coordinator for Wyoming Fish and Wildlife Services. “It’s just the dynamic nature of managing wolves, and as managers we try to do our best to minimize that chronic loss of livestock if at all possible.”
But environmentalists blame ranchers for not taking proactive steps like installing electric fencing that can save livestock and predators. Based on federal numbers, Wyoming had at least 377 wolves in 2016.