After Director Phil Anderson of the Department of Washington State Fish and Wildlife issued a kill order for 4 wolves, a sharpshooter "accidentally" shot the alpha wolf of the Huckleberry Pack in Washington state from a helicopter.
After the aerial shooting, the federally contacted sharphooter said they couldn't determine it was the alpha female from the air. (Which is exactly why they should not be shooting wolves from the air!!!)
At the end of 2013 only an estimated 52 wolves roamed the state and a wolf recovery plan was put into place. The wolf management plan approved 15 sucessful breeding pairs. The loss of the breeding female is contrary to the recovery plan.
The loss of the breeding alpha female will surely harm the survival of the Huckleberry Pack. In a similar conflict with wolves and livestock, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife killed the entire Wedge Pack of Wolves.
This plan does not seem like "management" or "recovery". It is the same plan in which Gray wolves were eliminated by hunters as a breeding species in Washington by the 1930's. To begin with, livestock should never have been placed where wolves in the recovery program were raising their young and non-lethal strategies for confict avoidance could not be implimented.
Using aerial sharpshooting as "recovery plan" has proven to be a disaster for the Huckleberry Pack, and the Wedge Pack. Cease aerial shooting wolves in Washington state as a recovery tool immediately.
SOURCE:http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2014/09/04/losing-alpha-female-threatens-pack-survival/15102151/
