What happens when wolves kill livestock? Here’s how Idaho compensates ranchers
Last week, the Idaho Rangeland Resources Commission said dozens of sheep died near Boise after they were chased by wolves and ran into a gully, piling onto one another and suffocating 143 animals. The unusual incident, which occurred in mid-May, put a significant dent in Wilder rancher Frank Shirts’ 2,500-sheep flock.
In the commission’s news release, Shirts said he intended to apply for compensation over the loss of his lambs and ewes in the largest depredation claim in Idaho’s wolf livestock loss program’s history.
Though it’s not a typical depredation — where animals hunt and kill livestock directly — Shirts said it’s clear the sheep deaths were the result of the wolves giving chase.
“They just plum scared ‘em,” Shirts told the Idaho Statesman. “They scared ‘em to death.”
Sheep “pile ups” are rare. They typically happen when a flock is frightened, often by predators like bears, mountain lions or wolves, and runs into a canyon or ravine.
“The front sheep, the ones that get down into the bottom first, they can’t get out of the way fast enough and the sheep keep piling up,” said Jared Hedelius, Idaho state director for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency investigates livestock depredations.
Hedelius said most sheep pile ups involve around 70 or 80 animals. The incident with Shirts’ flock was the largest Hedelius said he’s ever seen.
Shirts, who each year runs sheep through the Boise Foothills, said he had two shepherds with the flock who saw two wolves frighten the sheep into a gully near Shaw Mountain. The incident reportedly took place during the day, which is unusual.
Compensating wolf depredation
Idaho ranchers began reporting livestock depredations soon after wolves were reintroduced to the state in 1995. Between 1996 and 2009, ranchers could submit claims for lost livestock to Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group that established a wolf compensation program to ease tensions over expanding wolf populations. In 2009, Congress authorized a Wolf Livestock Loss Demonstration Project through Wildlife Services that allots grant funding to states.
Since that program was implemented nearly a decade ago, Idaho has received roughly $1.2 million to compensate livestock losses and fund depredation prevention efforts. Idaho’s Office of Species Conservation oversees the federal funds and since 2014 has paid 230 livestock owners a total of $589,361 for 991 verified wolf attacks on animals including sheep, cattle, llamas, bison and livestock guardian dogs.
Compensation is only possible when a Wildlife Services investigation confirms the cause of a livestock kill. When livestock get lost, remains aren’t found or nobody witnesses the attack, the loss is instead considered possible or probable, said Joshua Uriarte, terrestrial species manager and policy adviser for the Office of Species Conservation.
Compensation for an entire calendar year is paid the following January to ensure funds don’t run out for claimants partway in the year. If claims exceed available funds, the compensation is prorated.
Uriarte said the price paid for each livestock loss changes every year based on U.S. Department of Agriculture market rate averages. In 2021, the market rate for lambs was $325.50 and for ewes was $291. The previous year, the program paid $159 for lambs and $163 for ewes.
Uriarte said there’s no way to know now what Shirts’ compensation will amount to. If market rates fall to 2020 levels, it could fall in the neighborhood of $22,000 — a sum the office has paid for past claims that involved fewer, but costlier animals. But if prices remain similar to last year’s, Shirts could see more than $45,000 in compensation.
Ranchers who receive wolf depredation funds must show a 50% match of their own investment to prevent wolf kills.
Other depredation, including bear and mountain lion attacks on livestock, as well as herbivore damage to crops, are compensated by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game through funds levied as a portion of hunting and fishing licenses. While Fish and Game’s compensation program bars people from claiming funds for animals they’ve also claimed insurance money on, the wolf program does not have the same limitation.
In addition to compensation programs, Idaho has a Wolf Depredation Control Board that pays Wildlife Services to kill wolves. This year, the Idaho Legislature approved more than $800,000 in funding for the board — $392,000 from Idaho’s general fund, $300,000 from Fish and Game and $110,000 from livestock producers — in addition to an existing $230,000 in reserve.
Rangeland commission: Funds don’t make ranchers whole
Shirts said wolves have been a problem for his flocks in the Boise area for the last decade. An Idaho Department of Fish and Game news release said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services typically kills between five and 14 wolves in the Boise Foothills every year. The agency was authorized to kill the two wolves involved in this incident, but Hedelius said animals were not found. The authorization expired at the end of May.
Pile ups aren’t typical depredation. Hedelius said usually one or two sheep will be attacked and killed by wolves as the flock moves. In the May pile up, Shirts’ sheep herders chased the wolves away, and no sheep were consumed by the wolves. Because Shirts’ sheep herders witnessed the incident, Wildlife Services listed all 143 sheep deaths as confirmed wolf kills, making them eligible for compensation.
The Rangeland Commission said compensation funds don’t make up for all of a rancher’s losses. Shirts told the Statesman since wolves were reintroduced in Idaho, he can’t graze his sheep in the best areas. He doesn’t often take them to graze in brushy canyons, where they risk predator attacks. As a result, the sheep gain less weight and don’t fetch as much at market.
Shirts said he has lost one or two every year to wolves in last decade, but this has been worst single depredation incident he’sexperienced. Shirts said wolves are “vicious” and never should have been reintroduced to Idaho.
Wolves have been controversial since they were reintroduced. In recent years, Idaho has greatly expanded opportunities for wolf hunting and trapping. Idaho’s wolf population is around 1,600 in the spring, with numbers dipping to roughly 900 by late winter, Fish and Game said in a news release. The state’s wolf population must stay above roughly 150 to avoid management being returned to federal officials.
Since 2017, Fish and Game said, 324 wolves have been killed over confirmed depredation. Last year, Wildlife Services killed 43 wolves, while hunters and trappers killed an additional 437.
Idaho’s wolf hunting and trapping regulations prompted a lawsuit from environmental groups, and the animals were returned to Endangered Species Act protections in much of the country — excluding the Northern Rocky Mountain population that includes Idaho’s wolves — earlier this year.
Despite the outcry, Shirts said he thinks people would change their tune if they were directly impacted by wolf depredation in the way ranchers are.
“If (wolves) came and were taking food out of your fridge, most people wouldn’t like them,“ Shirts said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board’s funding. It receives $300,000 from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, which includes $190,000 in hunter and trapper fees.
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 3:22 PM.
