Washington cancels Wolf Plan meetings due to facebook threats

[Beringia]

https://www.drovers.com/article/online-threats-lead-cancellation-washington-wolf-meetings

Aug 29, 2019

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has cancelled a series of 14 wolf-related public meetings as a precaution for the safety of the public and staff.

“We got to a point where the department could simply not assure the safety of the public or the staff,” said Steve Pozzanghera, the department’s eastern region director told the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

Fish and Wildlife was to hold meetings to discuss post-recovery and management plans for when the wolves are no longer a state or federally endangered species. Public input was needed for that process.

Pozzanghera said as his agency started planning the meetings, they worked with local law enforcement knowing wolf issues are usually contentious. That’s when they started seeing Facebook posts threatening violence, including threats focused around agency plans to kill wolves that had attacked cattle. The threats came from both wolf-partisans and wolf-haters.

“Both sides were playing equally poorly,” he said. “We had concerns, given that environment, these meetings wouldn’t be productive.”

Wolves have killed and injured a number of cattle this summer, prompting agency officials to kill members of the Old Profanity Territory pack. The pack was completely eliminated by department staff earlier this month, prompting anger and lawsuits from some environmental and conservation groups.

Washington officials say according to an annual survey, the state has at least 126 wolves, 27 packs and 15 breeding pairs. The state’s wolf population has grown, on average, 30 percent per year since the canines naturally returned to Washington in 2008.

While the meetings have been canceled, the process remains open to public comment online through Nov. 1.

You can comment here:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/at-risk/species-recovery/gray-wolf/post-recovery-planning/public-input

Old Profanity Territory Wolf Pack

WDFW Director Kelly Susewind authorized the lethal removal of the pack on July 31 after finding it responsible for 29 total livestock attacks since Sept. 2018, according to an agency statement.

Jul 13: one wolf
Aug 7: one wolf
Aug 8: one wolf
Aug 13: one wolf
Aug 16: four wolves
(four were pups)

On Aug. 9, WDFW Director Kelly Susewind reauthorized the lethal removal of the two remaining wolves from the Togo pack in response to repeated depredation of cattle on grazing lands in the Kettle River range of Ferry County. The lethal removal period is currently ongoing.
Togo pack 2018 (Being totally removed Aug 2019)

WDFW estimates at least 126 wolves and 27 packs were living in Washington by the end of 2018.