Wolf pack to be reduced: Officials make decision after McGinnis Meadows incidents

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has determined that four of the seven wolves in the Fishtrap Pack should be killed to reduce livestock depredation at McGinnis Meadows. The pack is believed to be responsible for killing a cow last month and then injuring a calf at a neighboring ranch two weeks ago.

“This is atypical from what we’ve been seeing in the past,” said Kent Laudon, FWP wolf management specialist.

Before the two recent incidences, the pack had been attributed to three confirmed livestock kills and one livestock injury since 2005, a relatively low number, according to Laudon. 

The Fishtrap Pack’s territory covers about 250 square miles roughly bordered by Silver Butte and Thompson River, Highway 2 and Fishtrap River.

Shortly after the pack killed a Dexter cow at a small McGinnis Meadows ranch last month, a neighboring rancher reported wolves harassing his yearling calves, Laudon said.

A hot wire with flags was strung around the 20-acre pasture to serve as a deterrent, Laudon said. Though the wolves appeared afraid to cross the barrier of flapping red flags for the first few days, they slipped under the line on the third day and attacked a calf.

Different factors can play into a pack changing behavior and becoming a repeat offender, Laudon said, such as a shifting in the pack’s structure or a decline in prey. The alpha male left the pack and the alpha female died last year, allowing new wolves with different personalities to fill dominant roles. In addition, the deer population in northwestern Montana is down this year.

USDA Wildlife Services will carry out the FWP’s decision. The agency prefers to single out offending wolves, Laudon said, but it’s not always possible. Sometimes all of the wolves are responsible and there is no one or two “troublemakers” in the pack. The agency sometimes chooses the wolf that returns to the site of the livestock kill, though there is no guarantee that it is the offending wolf.

Reducing the pack to three wolves will make a difference, according to Laudon, no matter which four wolves are killed. 

“You decrease the nutritional demands of the pack,” Laudon said.