Wolf

Wolves were hunted to extinction in Washington at the turn of the last century. But they started migrating into Washington from neighboring areas in the early 2000s and there are an estimated 16 wolf packs in the state.

Twenty- six biologists sent a letter to the secretary of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the Great Lakes gray wolves from the endangered species act list. They site scientific studies proving the wolf populations are recovered.

Environmental groups filed lawsuits Tuesday in Idaho and Washington, D.C., seeking to force federal officials to reveal reasons behind allowing a wolf- and coyote-shooting contest in parts of Idaho.

The livestock were attacked by a male wolf tagged as OR25. The wolf left the Imnaha Pack in March and eventually settled northeast of Chiloquin.

State and federal managers have reduced the combined limit for the federal subsistence and state general hunts to nine wolves in SE Alaska.

SACRAMENTO (AP) — California has its first wolf pack since the state's gray wolf population went extinct in 1924. State and federal authorities announced Thursday that a remote camera captured photos earlier this month of two adults and five pups in southeastern Siskiyou County. They were named the Shasta pack for nearby Mount Shasta. The pack was discovered four years after the famous Oregon wandering wolf OR-7 first reached Northern California. Karen Kovacs of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said it was an amazing accomplishment for gray wolves to establish themselves in Northern California just 21 years after wolves were reintroduced in the Northern Rockies. Those wolves eventually migrated into Oregon and Washington before reaching California, where they are protected by federal and state endangered species acts. Just where these wolves, all black in color, came from will have to wait for DNA testing on scat at an Idaho lab, but it is likely they are a continuation of the increasing numbers of wolves migrating from Oregon's northeastern corner to the southern Cascade Range, Kovacs said. Though the wolves have been spotted by local ranchers tending their herds, there have been no reports of wolf attacks on livestock, Kovacs said. Kirk Wilbur, government affairs director for the California Stockmens Association, said ranchers remain worried about the potential for losing animals to wolves as their numbers increase. Amaroq Weiss, of the conservation group with Center for Biological Diversity, said she was more worried the wolves could fall victim to hunters as hunting season gets underway. Anticipating that wolves would migrate into the state, California declared them an endangered species last year, but the state Fish and Wildlife Department does not expect to have a management plan in force until the end of this year, Kovacs said. The department has no goals for how many wolves might eventually live in California and no idea how many once lived in the state, she added. California's last known native wolf was killed in 1924 in neighboring Lassen County. There are at least 5,500 gray wolves in the contiguous 48 states, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Lance Verhulst isn't saying where he shot the video because he doesn't want people in his elk-hunting spot. officials are confident the animal is a wolf.

The latest population surveys show no significant change in Minnesota's wolf population during the past three winters. Although the new estimate of 2,221 wolves is lower than the previous winter's 2,423.

Officials set up remote trail cameras after receiving reports earlier this year of a large, dark-colored canid, an animal from the family that includes wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals and dogs.

The law nullified two citizen votes last fall that would have prevented wolf hunts. A group called Keep Michigan Wolves Protected filed suit, claiming the law is unconstitutional.

The season when wolves come into conflict with livestock in Eastern Washington has arrived, but the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is ready.

Two congressmen from the Southwest have introduced legislation that they say would protect farmers, ranchers and rural communities in Arizona and New Mexico from economic losses stemming from the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves.

Two wolf attacks in eastern Oregon have left three sheep, one dog and one calf dead.

A 2-year-old male gray wolf is one of two to make its way into the county from a disbursed Imnaha Pack in northeastern Oregon.

Hunting season for wolves ended on March 15. The penalty for killing a wolf out of season is a citation and $1,000 in restitution.

One of the country's best known suppressor brands is making a big push into the hunting market. And what better way to make that move than to take on the forest's most fearsome predator.

Ronell Skinner's business is a rarity, albeit a high-demand industry for wilderness communities. He cleans and prepares wildlife skull mounts using flesh-eating dermestid beetles.