The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is trying to kill one to two of the nine wolves in the Grouse Flats pack, in the southeast corner of the state.

That’s because the pack has killed two cattle in the past month and four cattle in the past 10 months.

The state Fish and Wildlife director authorized the lethal removal on Tuesday, and state agents headed out to look for the animals on Thursday. At least one of the wolves has a collar.

The pack spends some of its time in Oregon; when the wolves are there, Washington agents can’t kill them.

Staci Lehman, an agency spokesperson, said the ranchers in the area have taken steps to keep wolves away from their cattle. They’ve employed cowboys and fox lights to try to scare wolves, and they’ve removed sick and injured animals. But none of that worked, so now the agency is trying lethal removal.

“The point is to try to change the behavior of the other pack members,” Lehman said. “Sometimes, if you take out an alpha wolf, the others will change their behavior.”