Feds Forced To Kill
Stock-Preying Wolves

LIVINGSTON, Mont. —(AP)— Federal wildlife agents have killed three wolves from the Sheep Mountain pack.

The wolves were shot earlier this month after officials confirmed members of the pack were responsible for killing a calf 35 miles south of Livingston, said Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery coordinator.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services confirmed the calf was killed by wolves on Forest Service land in the Six Mile Creek drainage, Bangs said.

The Sheep Mountain Pack, made up of about 16 wolves, established its range northwest of Jardine about three years ago in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, according to Bangs.

``The rancher did the right thing, he reported it and preserved the kill,'' Bangs said.

He declined to release the name of the rancher.

A radio-collared wolf was located by airplane while feeding with several other members of the pack on the calf carcass about one and a half miles from the Six Mile Creek trailhead, Bangs said.

Three members of the group were then shot from a helicopter by a Wildlife Services agent after the wolves were located in the Gold Prize Creek drainage north of the carcass, he said.

The wolves, one male and two females, all weighed between 50 and 70 pounds and were probably born in April.

The rest of the Sheep Mountain pack was about 25 miles from the calf, Bangs said.

Bangs said the Fish and Wildlife Service will continue to take a wait-and-see approach to further management of the Sheep Mountain pack.

The pelts and skulls of the three killed wolves will be used for educational and scientific purposes, he said.