Wolf numbers slip

COEUR d'ALENE - At the end of 2013, Idaho had an estimated 659 wolves associated with state packs, according to an annual wolf-monitoring report.

"The Idaho wolf population increased steadily since reintroductions in 1995 and 1996 through 2009, after which data suggest the population had declined," the report said. The state's first wolf-hunting season was 2009.

The estimated number of wolves in Idaho is down 14 percent compared with two years earlier.

More of the animals were physically detected in the Panhandle than in the state's other regions. The Panhandle had 49, and the Sawtooth region was second with 45.

The Panhandle also had the greatest number of documented packs, with 20 at the end of 2013. The Dworshak-Elk City area had 15.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game and Nez Perce Tribe prepared the report, and it was posted to the department's website Friday.

Biologists documented 107 wolf packs in the state at the end of 2013, which was fewer than the 117 documented at the end of 2012.

"The number of documented packs increased from 1995 through 2012, but declined in 2013," the report stated.

Seven additional packs were added to the 2012 total based on evidence collected in 2013, bringing that total to 124 packs.

Additionally, 28 documented border packs were counted in Montana, Wyoming and Washington that established territories overlapping the Idaho border.

The totals bring the state's wolf numbers to well more than the 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs required to keep gray wolves off the endangered species list under the 2009 de-listing rule.

"We documented the mortalities of 473 wolves in Idaho during 2013," the report said. "Human-caused mortality comprised 466 of 473 documented wolf mortalities. The remaining seven mortalities were attributed to unknown causes."

Fish and Game reported that hunters and trappers accounted for 356 wolves killed in 2013. Control efforts and legal landowner kills in response to wolf-livestock depredation accounted for the deaths of 94 wolves.

Also in 2013, 39 cattle, 404 sheep, four dogs and one horse were confirmed as wolf kills. Seven cattle, nine sheep and one dog were considered probable wolf kills, Fish and Game reported.