Wash. judge: State can proceed with killing wolf

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – A judge has ruled that a male wolf in a pack that killed a cow and injured two calves in northeast Washington can be killed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

After a Friday morning hearing, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Carol Murphy declined to extend a restraining order that was issued by another judge earlier in the month and was set to expire later in the day, the Capital Press reported .

Since the earlier restraining order was issued, a rancher said he shot at the wolf in self-defense and apparently wounded it in the left rear leg. Fish and Wildlife officials say that the wolf, which is wearing a radio collar that transmits its GPS locations, remains mobile, and that they believe attacks on livestock will continue.

Murphy said that the two environmental groups that had obtained the restraining order – The Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands – had failed to show that they would suffer irreparable harm if the department shot the wolf.

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Information from: Capital Press, http://www.capitalpress.com/washington