WDFW Investigated New Calf Depredation Same Day Court Official Halted Lethal Removal Permit

UPDATE OCTOBER 28, 2025: Today’s court hearing has been rescheduled for Thursday, October 30, per WDFW.

The same day last week that a King County Superior Court commissioner issued a temporary restraining order pausing WDFW’s efforts to remove a wolf from a depredating pack in Northeast Washington, agency staffers investigated a fresh confirmed wolf depredation that led to the euthanization of a calf.

WDFW reports that on October 14 they responded to the injured calf in the Sherman Pack territory of Ferry County, and that the next day the calf had to be put down due to its injuries.

Earlier on that Tuesday, Commissioner Mark Hillman issued a TRO blocking the kill permit issued by WDFW Deputy Director Amy Windrope in response to two confirmed depredations by the pack and which were investigated in late September and early October.

Predator advocates had claimed Windrope’s decision in granting the permit had been “arbitrary and capricious,” according to the Capital Press, which also reported Hillman stated, “Weighing the downside for the state versus the downside for the wolves, frankly, the wolves would lose if I don’t grant the injunction.”

A commissioner is a person appointed by superior court judges to preside over various cases, calendars and preliminary hearings as assigned by those judges.

WDFW’s kill permit was set to expire October 15.

The agency says that while it documented the October 14 depredation in the Sherman Pack territory, it “is not considering lethal removal at this time.”

Next up is a preliminary injunction hearing on the matter set for next Tuesday, October 28.

WDFW previously lethally removed a nonbreeding Sherman Pack female in response to repeated cattle attacks in August.