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DARBY- Montana, Fish Wildlife & Parks officials gave USDA Wildlife Services and a landowner permission to shoot up to five wolves in the Darby area after they killed a horse overnight.

FWP Information Officer Vivaca Crowser said the wolves attacked the horse and ran it into a fence at Two Feathers Ranch where it died of its injuries.

Two Feathers Ranch owner Paul Shirley said he got a call from his ranch manager about the attack on Friday morning.

"I came down as soon as I could and saw Jack, one of our favorite quarter horses, had been ravaged by the wolves," Shirley said. "He was one that, when we had little children who'd come visit we'd put ‘em on him and lead him around."

FWP issued Shirley a shoot-on-site permit to kill the wolves if they return to his property.

"We will shoot them if we see them," Shirley said. "I understand that animals have to eat, but the horses are domesticated and we have other animals around here as well and I'm interested in their survival, not the survival of the wolf."

Two Feathers ranch is home to 13 horses and about 180 head of cattle.

Crowser said the wolves that killed Shirley's horse make up the Trapper Peak Pack which has a history of killing cattle in the area. USDA Wildlife Services is now tracking the pack with the intention of killing all five wolves in it.

Contact Breanna Roy