Statistics on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
Wolf Killing Program
Nearly 85% of Wolves Killed by WDFW Were Shot on Behalf of Diamond M Ranch 1
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Of the 31 endangered wolves the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has killed
since 2012, 28 (90%) were shot as a result of predations of cattle ranging in the mountains of
the Colville National Forest (CNF), and 26 (84%) were killed on behalf of the Diamond M
Ranch.

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Over the past four years, WDFW has killed 18 wolves on behalf of Diamond M Ranch as a
result of predations in the same grazing allotment and region of the Kettle River Range
mountains within the CNF. As a result, wolves have been repeatedly wiped out from the
prime wolf country of the Kettle River Range.
o Wedge 2012: 7 wolves killed on behalf of Diamond M as a result of predations in
the northeast section of CNF.
o Huckleberry 2014: 1 wolf killed on behalf of another livestock owner as a result
of predations on private and state-owned lands.
o Profanity Peak 2016: 7 wolves killed on behalf of Diamond M as a result of
predations in the Kettle River Range within CNF (all predations except one were
on Diamond M cattle).
o Sherman 2017: 1 wolf killed on behalf of Diamond M as a result of predations in
the Kettle River Range within CNF.
o Smackout 2017: 2 wolves killed on behalf of another livestock owner as a result
of predations on private land near CNF and predations in the eastern region of
CNF.
o Togo 2018: 1 wolf killed on behalf of another livestock owner as a result of
predations in the Kettle River Range within CNF.
o OPT 2018: 2 wolves killed on behalf of Diamond M as a result of predations in
the Kettle River Range within CNF.
o Smackout 2018: 1 wolf killed on behalf of Diamond M as a result of predations
on private land near the eastern region of CNF.
o OPT 2019: 8 wolves killed on behalf of Diamond M for predations in the Kettle
River Range within CNF.
o Grouse Flats 2019: 1 wolf killed on behalf of another livestock owner as a result
of predations on private lands and WDFW land.

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All facts are supported by publicly available documents, including documents presented during court actions,
documents obtained through public disclosure, media reports, and communications from WDFW’s website.
Supporting information is available on request.

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Of the four packs WDFW has destroyed since 2012, all were killed on behalf of Diamond
M Ranch within the Colville National Forest: Wedge 2012, Profanity Peak 2016,
Sherman 2017, OPT 2019.

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This is the fourth year in a row WDFW has killed wolves on behalf of Diamond M Ranch
in the same area – an allotment of the Kettle River Range within CNF – after Diamond M
repeatedly failed to move its cattle out of high use areas: Profanity Peak 2016; Sherman
2017; OPT Pack 2018; OPT Pack 2019.

Diamond M Loses a Disproportionate Number of its Cattle to Wolves
Although Diamond M is reportedly the largest cattle producer in Washington, this does not
explain the disproportionate number of cattle the producer loses to wolves, or the number of
wolves killed as a result.
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An extensive study of cattle predation in 2016 found that Diamond M is 14 times more
likely to have predations on its cattle than other producers in wolf-occupied territory in
WA.

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Year after year, Diamond M loses cattle to wolves while neighboring livestock producers
are able to effectively protect their herds.
o WDFW reports that the OPT Pack territory covered 13 different grazing
allotments, only three of which belong to Diamond M. Yet in 2018 and 2019, the
OPT Pack only injured or killed Diamond M cattle, according to WDFW.
o Despite the fact that the OPT Pack’s den site was located on another producer’s
allotment in 2019, that producer did not suffer any predations. There were no
reported OPT Pack predations in 2019 until July, when the pack moved its
rendezvous site to a neighboring allotment leased by Diamond M ranch. The OPT
Pack subsequently killed or injured 10 cows/calves belonging to Diamond M
within a month, causing WDFW to exterminate the entire pack, according to
WDFW reports.
o A similar contrast could be seen in 2018 with the Smackout Pack. Even though
the Smackout Pack typically locates its den site each year between two allotments
belonging to the same ranching family, that family has consistently used nonlethal methods to protect their cattle, resulting in relatively few predations. For
example, only one calf was injured by the Smackout Pack during the summer of
2018. However, when Diamond M moved some of its cattle to private pastures in
the area in the fall of 2018, the Smackout Pack reportedly killed four Diamond M
cows in roughly two weeks—and WDFW killed a Smackout wolf in response.
WDFW Kills Roughly One Wolf for Every Cow Diamond M Loses to Wolves

Washington state runs a compensation program to pay for livestock losses due to wolves, usually
in excess of the fair market value. In fact, when predations occur on grazing areas of 100 acres or
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 more in size – which is the case for all of the Forest Service allotments in the CNF – the state
offers double the amount of compensation for each animal lost. However, Diamond M refuses
state compensation for its cattle, and has famously demanded that the only compensation that it
wants is “a dead wolf for every dead calf.”
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There are roughly 1.2 million cattle in Washington, most of which, including Diamond
M’s cattle, are headed for slaughterhouses. As of WDFW’s last count (before WDFW
killed wolves in 2019), there were only 126 confirmed wolves. Wolves are a state
endangered species.

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Nevertheless, WDFW has essentially complied with Diamond M’s demand, killing
roughly one endangered wolf for every confirmed death of one of Diamond M’s beef
cattle. WDFW has confirmed that targeted wolf packs were responsible for killing 30-35
of Diamond M’s cattle since 2012, and WDFW has killed 26-29 2 wolves in response to
these predations.
o In 2012, WDFW confirmed 3 that members of the Wedge Pack killed 1-5 4
Diamond M calves. WDFW responded by killing 7 Wedge Pack wolves, and
destroying the pack. (1-5 beef cattle, 7 dead endangered wolves killed)
o In 2016, WDFW confirmed that members of the Profanity Peak Pack killed 10
Diamond M cattle (and 1 cow belonging to another rancher). WDFW killed 7
Profanity Peak wolves in response, leaving 1 subadult female and 3 pups. It is
likely that the pups starved after the rest of the pack was killed. (10 beef cattle, 710 endangered wolves killed)
o In 2017, WDFW confirmed that members of the Sherman Pack killed 5 Diamond
M cattle. WDFW killed 1 Sherman Pack wolf in response (and destroyed the
pack, since the pack had only two members at the time). (5 beef cattle, 1
endangered wolf killed)
o In 2018, WDFW confirmed that members of the Smackout Pack had killed 4
Diamond M cows/calves. WDFW killed 1 Smackout wolf in response. (4 beef
cattle, 1 endangered wolf killed)
o In 2018, WDFW confirmed that members of the OPT Pack had killed 2 Diamond
M cows/calves. WDFW killed 1 adult and 1 pup of the OPT pack in response. (2
beef cattle, 2 endangered wolves killed)
o WDFW reported that the remaining members of the OPT Pack killed 2 more
cows/calves in 2018. It tried, but failed, to kill the rest of the OPT Pack in fall

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The higher figure reflects pups likely left to starve in 2016 after the adults in the Profanity Peak pack were killed.
These numbers count confirmed wolf predations that resulted in deaths; they do not count suspected or probable
wolf predations, or injuries to cattle, which WDFW often lumps together in its total predation counts.

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In 2012, WDFW originally indicated that one cattle death was a “confirmed” wolf kill, and that there was
“reasonable physical evidence” that four additional cattle deaths were due to wolves; in reports in later years,
WDFW converted these findings into five “confirmed” wolf predations.

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 2018. (2 beef cattle killed, no wolves killed, despite repeated attempts to kill
entire pack)
o In January 2019, WDFW reported that members of the OPT Pack killed 3
Diamond M calves who had been left stranded in the snow roughly three months
after the end of the grazing season. Because WDFW acknowledged that these
cattle were there illegally, it did not immediately take action—but it did add these
cattle to the OPT Pack’s predation count. (3 beef cattle killed, no wolves killed
immediately because cattle were on range illegally)
o In early July 2019, WDFW reported that members of the OPT pack had killed one
Diamond M cow. WDFW immediately killed one OPT wolf in response. (1 beef
cow, and 1 endangered wolf killed)
o WDFW confirmed that members of the OPT Pack killed two more cows/calves in
the remainder of July and August 2019. WDFW killed seven OPT wolves as a
result, including four pups, exterminating the entire pack. (2 beef cattle, 7
endangered wolves killed)
Washington Wolf Recovery Statistics
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WDFW insists that wolves are continuing to recover in Washington despite its lethal
control actions, and frequently claims that the wolf population is growing “an
average” of 28% per year.

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WDFW’s own statistics show this number is misleading, because it “averages”
population growth including the early years of wolf recovery, when the population
was very small—and adding a few wolves meant a large leap in the percentage
increase. For example, when the population went from 27 in 2011 to 51 in 2012, that
was an 89% leap.

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However, from 2012 to 2013, the wolf population grew only 2%; from 2016 to 2017,
the wolf population grew only 6%, and from 2017 to 2018, it grew only 3%,
according to WDFW’s last annual report. One of the key recovery metrics is the
number of breeding pairs, and only one breeding pair was added between 2017 and
2018. So far in 2019, WDFW has destroyed at least two breeding pairs by eliminating
the OPT Pack and killing the breeding female in the Grouse Flats Pack.

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Known wolf mortalities from humans in 2019 have already exceeded the total in
2018. In 2018, WDFW documented 12 wolves killed by humans, including 6 killed
by hunts by the Colville Tribe. So far in 2019, we know of 17 wolves killed by
humans, including 9 killed by WDFW, 3 killed reportedly while “caught in the act” of
attacking livestock, 1 illegally killed by a poacher, 1 killed by a hiker in reported selfdefense, 1 death that is still under investigation, 1 disperser to British Columbia
legally killed there, and 1 killed on the Spokane Indian Reservation where wolfhunting is allowed by the tribe. These numbers are expected to jump significantly,
when the full numbers are released by the Spokane and Colville Indian Reservations.
Like the Spokane Tribe, the Colville Tribe allows wolf-hunting and last year, the
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 Colville Tribe removed all limits on the number of wolves its members can kill; 6
wolves were killed in the subsequent tribal hunt in 2018.

Contact: Amaroq Weiss, (707) 779-9613, aweiss@biologicaldiversity.org
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more
than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species
and wild places.

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