FARSON - Federal wildlife control specialists killed four wolves near the Prospect Mountains northeast of here Wednesday afternoon, according to Mike Jimenez of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Last week federal wildlife control specialists confirmed that four domestic sheep had been killed by wolves in the same area where wolves were confirmed to have killed at least a dozen ewes and lambs in June. In response to the spring depredations on the domestic sheep lambing ground, the female wolf and her pups were killed, halting depredations for a few months.

In August, USDA Wildlife Services specialists confirmed that wolves in the same area had killed one ewe, and another 12 dead ewes were classified as "probable" wolf kills. The remaining 19 dead lambs were too decomposed for a determination to be made. Additional wolf control was attempted by was unsuccessful.

The Fish and Wildlife Service reported earlier this week that tracks at the Prospect Mountain depredation site last week indicate that three or four wolves were responsible for the sheep kills. The agency reported that it authorized Wildlife Services specialists to kill "all wolves" at the site.

On Wednesday, a local rancher called federal wildlife officials to let them know the pack of four wolves had just been spotted. Wildlife Services personnel were able to fly the area and shoot the four wolves, including two adults and two yearlings. Control efforts have not ended, Jimenez said.

Jimenez said one of the wolves, an adult female, was radio-collared and was known to be from the Greybull River wolf pack near Meeteetse. Jimenez said he had captured and collared the female two years ago when she was a yearling wolf.

Wyoming Stock Growers Association executive Jim Magagna is the owner of the domestic sheep that have been repeatedly preyed on by wolves in the area. In an interview late Wednesday, Magagna said he was lucky this time that the wolf depredations were discovered so quickly, because the sheep had been in the pasture for three weeks.

On Nov. 4, some 94 of the 115 ewes in the pasture were shipped to the Riverton auction barn, leaving 21 head that were due to be moved to the ranch's headquarters about six miles away the next day. When Magagna and his ranch hand entered the pasture the next day, they found three dead ewes and one that soon died. They gathered 15 remaining ewes and moved them to the ranch, Magagna said, although five had been chewed on "to varying degrees." One additional ewe was never found.

Magagna said Wildlife Services personnel were able to verify the four ewes as wolf kills the next Monday.

Magagna was pleased that the four wolves were destroyed, but pointed out that anecdotal reports indicate a separate group of six wolves remains in the region. Asked if he was satisfied with the response from federal officials, Magagna pointed to the competent work in destroying the wolves, but noted he's not satisfied in the sense that help "only comes after the fact," once his sheep are dead.

"They made a good effort, but it's still backwards," Magagna said.