LANDER - At least 10 gray wolves have now been killed in Wyoming since the animals were removed from the federal endangered species list.

All of the canines have been killed in the state's new wolf predator management area, where it is now legal to shoot the animals on sight. All 10 have been taken in Sublette County.

Four wolves were destroyed by USDA Wildlife Services agents Monday on a ranch near the border of the state's new trophy game zone for the animals, a spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed Tuesday.

The wolves reportedly killed four or five calves inside a rancher's cow pen over the weekend, starting Friday morning, said Cat Urbigkit, a Sublette County predator management board member.

The cows and calves were being kept in a barbed-wire-lined pen, Urbigkit said, and two of the calves were almost completely consumed.

"The depredations actually started there Friday morning, and the wolves were returning nightly," Urbigkit said.

The predator board asked Wildlife Services to destroy the wolves after the rancher found the first two dead calves, she said.

Wildlife Services received a kill permit from the Game and Fish Department Friday, so it would be able to take the wolves even if they crossed the boundary of the trophy game zone just to the north, said Eric Keszler, spokesman for Game and Fish.

That permit, as it turned out, wasn't needed: When the aerial hunters found the wolves, they were still inside the predator zone.

Because there was snow on the ground, officials with Wildlife Services were able to track the wolves after they left the pen, Urbigkit said.

As per state law governing wolf management, the Game and Fish Department will not release the name of the rancher, or the specific location of the livestock depredations.

Since the reintroduction of 66 wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995 and 1996, more than 720 wolves have been killed through federally sanctioned management, or about 10 percent of the population, every year. Most of the wolves were destroyed after they killed or harassed livestock.

In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service killed 63 wolves in Wyoming in response to confirmed livestock depredations. About half of them were outside the trophy game zone, even though the animals there comprised less than 10 percent of Wyoming's total wolf population.

Since Wyoming took over management of wolves March 28, the Game and Fish Department has issued three wolf kill permits inside the trophy game zone, Keszler said, but no wolves have been taken by private individuals there so far.

Also Tuesday, there were unconfirmed reports of two more wolf kills in the predator management area. People taking wolves have 10 days to report the kills to the Game and Fish Department, and they can do so anonymously if they desire, said Erin Smith, spokeswoman for the Game and Fish Department's Lander region.

Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.

* Last we knew: Wolves were removed from the federal endangered species list March 28, and six of the canines were killed in Wyoming in the first six days following the delisting.

* The latest: At least 10 wolves have now been killed in Sublette County, all of them inside the predator management area for wolves where it is now legal to shoot the animals on sight.

* What's next: Opponents of the delisting rule must wait until the end of this month before filing suit.]]->