A judge in Thurston County Superior Court dismissed the case filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands challenging the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) 2017 lethal removal decision concerning wolves in the Sherman pack. The judge ruled that the case was moot because the lethal removal authorization was no longer in effect and, as such, the court could not provide effective relief.
Based on the Department’s most recent annual survey in December 2017, the Sherman pack no longer exists.
WDFW will continue to implement the Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and wolf-livestock interactions protocol, which emphases the proactive use of non-lethal deterrent measures to reduce wolf-livestock conflict, and only consider lethal removal of wolves if those non-lethal tools fail.
(Photo source: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)