The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reported that on March 6 a Mackay, Idaho area property owner shot a gray yearling female wolf who was, with another wolf, harassing his cattle at night. This reportedly had been going for three nights. One calf had been injured and one trampled to death.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Idaho, near Riggins, a rancher fired two "long shots" at several wolves who were chasing his cattle during the day. He also got one closer shot, but it appears none of the wolves were hit.

These are the first such actions under the new rules for Idaho and part of Montana that allows livestock operators to kill wolves that are harassing their livestock, although perhaps not actually attacking them. In the past an actual attack needed to be underway, or else the person needed a permit in advance.

According the USFWS, the details of the incidents are being investigated. Ed Bangs, told me this is standard procedure whenever there is a dead wolf, and does not mean that these cases are or are not suspicious.

Ranchers can't just shoot wolves they see on their property. The new rules say the wolves have to be harassing the livestock and some evidence that they were doing so is supposed to be present.

My initial impression is that this may be a better plan than in the past where some livestock would be killed and then Wildlife Services would shoot a wolf or two in the vicinity that may or may not have been involved. In other words, the wolves actually responsible now seem more likely to be killed. Hopefully, the old method will not be applied on top of the new method.

In the Mackay case, the wolves might have been from the Copper Basin Pack and in the Riggins case maybe the nearby Cold Springs Pack.

A more complete story of the Mackay incident appeared in the Challis Messenger on March 10.

"Mackay rancher first to shoot wolf with new rules." by Todd Adams. Challis Messenger.

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