Confirmed sighting: Zarings of Dusty pursue black wolf with pickup, camera

This time it’s not a rumor. A wolf was spotted near Dusty on March 6.

It was an ordinary Thursday morning, a little before 8. Roger and Peggy Zaring, who live south of Dusty, had just come into the house from feeding their cattle when Roger looked out a window and saw an “enormous dog.” The dog, he soon realized, was a black wolf.

Zaring said the cattle are in a pasture close to his house and the wolf was trotting across an alfalfa field close to the pasture.

“It was very black and dark and was about 100 yards from the window,” he said. “It looked huge.”

“Nobody will believe this unless we get pictures,” Roger told his wife.

Peggy got her camera with a telephoto lens to get close shots of the wolf.

“I was excited to be able to take pictures,” Peggy said. “I’ve never seen a real live wolf.”

Zaring said he felt a little adrenaline rush.

“It was almost like going to a fire,” the volunteer firefighter said.

The couple got into a pickup and followed the wolf. They watched it clear a five-foot fence effortlessly and travel north, crossing Alkali Creek, clear another fence and cross Highway 127.

“We ran him pretty hard,” Zaring said.

But then the wolf stopped and whirled around to look directly at the Zarings.

“He gave us the ‘look,’” Zaring said. “It makes you stop. It’s the kind of look that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.”

“I wanted to hear what he was thinking,” Peggy said.

Roger said he doesn’t know what the wolf was up to.

“I think I interrupted him,” he said. “He was headed toward the cattle.” Zaring said he has some small calves that could have been the wolf’s targets.

“I’m sure he was hungry,” Peggy said.

Roger said the wolf had a “beautiful coat of fur and he didn’t look malnourished.”

During the chase, Zaring said friends drove by and contacted him about the wolf, one describing it as a small Shetland pony.

Zaring estimated the wolf was three to three-and-a-half feet tall at the shoulder and was about four-and-a-half feet long. He also estimated that it weighed 150 to 200 pounds.

“If he would’ve stood up, he would’ve been taller than me, and I’m six foot,” Zaring said.

As Zaring watched the wolf move over pastures and fences, he said it didn’t trot, but called the wolf’s gate “gliding.”

“He had a smooth glide,” he said. “It was effortless for him to go over a five-foot fence.”

After the wolf encounter, Zaring said he is more aware of his surroundings. Walking the short distance to his parents’ house is different than before the encounter, especially as he passed some tall shrubs along the way.

“It’s different now,” he said.

“We pay attention to what’s out there,” Peggy said.

After visiting the Zarings and examining the photos, Joey McCanna of St. John, WDFW Private Lands and Wildlife Conflict Supervisor for this region, confirmed the animal that Zarings saw was a wolf.

“I think it was passing through,” McCanna said.

He said that the wolf also might be looking for a mate because this is the peak breeding season for wolves.

“If the Zarings see it again, they’re going to notify me,” he said.

According to a WDFW web site map, two wolf sightings occurred in February near St. John. On Feb. 18, two “large” wolves were reported seen near some injured deer, and on Feb. 20, two wolves were observed as someone was driving toward St. John early in the morning.

McCanna said that the agency placed cameras near St. John where two wolf sightings have been reported and no wolves have been photographed, although the camera caught some coyotes.

He said the wolf siting at Zarings will go on the WDFW web site.

He also encourages anyone seeing a wolf to take photos if possible and notify WDFW.

WDFW Region Director Steve Pozzanghera in Spokane has said attacks by wolves on livestock in general are uncommon. The most likely livestock wolves will attack is sheep and calves.

Wolf facts

Wolves were formerly common throughout most of the state, but declined rapidly because of trapping, poisoning and hunting as ranching and farming expanded between 1850 and 1900. By the 1930s wolves were no longer considered a breeding species in the state. Infrequent reports of animals continued in the following decades, suggesting that individuals continued to disperse into Washington from neighboring states and British Columbia.

Wolves are protected with legal status under the federal Endangered Species Act and under state law in Washington. There are no federal or state plans to reintroduce wolves into Washington. Wolves are dispersing into eastern Washington and the North Cascades on their own from adjacent populations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and British Columbia.

Reliable reports of wolves have increased in Washington since 2005, many of which have involved single animals. A pack with pups was confirmed by July 2008 in western Okanogan and northern Chelan counties and represented the first fully documented breeding by wolves in the state since the 1930s. A second pack with pups was confirmed in Pend Oreille County in July 2009. Since then several other wolf packs have been confirmed.

The bigger wolf packs in Washington are in the north central part of the state. Since radios have been activated on some wolves, WDFW officials have seen that home ranges for the packs are more than 250 square miles.

Young male wolves venture away from packs as they establish their own territories.

Wolves are shy by nature and avoid contact with humans. In the very rare chance of a close encounter with a wolf, people should take the same steps as with cougars and bears to avoid problems - stand tall, act aggressively, raise your voice or shout, don’t run and slowly back away while facing the animal.

Wolves usually consider domestic dogs as territorial threats and may attack and kill them. Dogs should be kept on a leash or kept close by when walking or hiking.

Although wild wolves primarily feed on elk, deer and moose, they will occasionally prey on domestic livestock.

Adult wolves can eat 20 pounds of meat in a single meal.

Gray wolves look somewhat like a large German shepherd.

The average size of a wolf’s body is three to five feet long. Females typically weigh 60 to 100 pounds and males weigh 70 to 145 pounds.

Wolves can thrive in a diversity of habitats from the tundra to woodlands, forests, grasslands and deserts.

In the wild, wolves live eight to 13 years. In captivity, they can live up to 15 years.

Wolves live in packs and most packs have four to nine members, but the size can range from as few as two wolves to as many as 15. Wolves typically mate for life.

Wolf packs usually hunt within a territory, and territories can range from 50 square miles to more than 1,000. Wolves travel as far away as they need to in order to find prey. They often travel at five miles per hour but can reach speeds of 40 miles per hour.

Anyone who sees a wolf or any evidence of wolves should report it immediately to wdfw.wa.gov or call 1-877-933-9847.