Pack status: No longer active. Designated in 2011.
When the Smackout Pack was confirmed in NE Washington in 2011, there were five pack members recorded. By 2013, the pack had 12 members.
Gray wolves from the Smackout Pack dispersed and formed three new packs – the Dirty Shirt, Carpenter Ridge, and Ruby Creek packs.
On March 9, 2014, it was confirmed that the Ruby Creek Pack had been formed by two female wolves that split off from the Smackout Pack in northeast Washington. During the following winter, one of the female wolves mated with a domestic dog. She was captured, spayed, and returned to the wild. That spring, she was struck and killed by a motor vehicle.The remaining member of the Ruby Creek Pack became known as Ione. The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife became concerned that Ione was becoming habituated to people. On February 11th, 2015, Ione was tranquilized and transported to Wolf Haven Sanctuary, where she currently resides. Ione shares an enclosure with male wolfdog Luca, and the two seem very attached to one another.
There has been speculation that the Ruby Creek Pack split up due to the loss of the breeding adult male in 2014 when he was killed by a cougar.
The state wildlife agency killed two members of the pack in 2017 after the pack was involved in livestock predation.
The pack was implicated in a few livestock predations in mid-2018, and an adult male was killed by the state wildlife agency in November 2018. At the time, the pack had 4-5 adult wolves and no known pups.
At the end of 2018, the pack had a minimum number of four wolves, but was not counted as a successful breeding pair for the year.
The 2019 annual survey detected four pack members and confirmed successful breeding for 2019.
In January 2020, state biologists collared a pack member, and in February, a three-year- old adult female wolf was collared. The 2020 annual survey counted a minimum of six wolves in this pack and a confirmed breeding pair.
In 2021, the pack had a minimum of six wolves. One wolf was illegally killed.
At the end of 2022, there were seven wolves confirmed in the pack, however, four wolves died throughout the year. One of these wolves was a male pup, who was killed in September by WDFW. An adult female and a pup were found dead in September. WDFW staff believed the adult female was killed by a moose, and the pup was killed by a cougar on September 13. In October, WDFW killed another yearling female wolf from the pack.
In 2023, the breeding female of the Smackout Pack was struck by a vehicle. Not long after, the pack appeared to disband, and portions of that pack’s territory were taken over by the Onion, Dominion, and Ruby packs. The Smackout Pack is no longer active.
Photos & Video
Useful Links
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife – Smackout Pack
