JACKSON (WNE) — A landowner in the Gros Ventre mountains was issued a permit to kill wolves that had killed livestock, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department official confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

Dan Thompson, the department’s large carnivore supervisor, told the Jackson Hole Daily that the wolves had killed two weanling horses. The wild canines also injured three others.

Thompson said it’s rare for wolves, and other predators, to attack horses.

“We don’t see a lot of depredation on horses,” he said. “Especially five.”

Thompson declined to provide more information about where, specifically, the wolves killed the horses, how many wolves were killed, and who the landowner was. He did, however, say that the incident occurred in the Game and Fish-administered wolf Hunt Area 9, an area that includes part of the Gros Ventre mountain range and wilderness.

Game and Fish did not kill the wolves, Thompson said. Rather, it provided a lethal take permit to the landowner, who killed the carnivores after they preyed on the horses. Thompson said the department provides permits when requested by a landowner after confirming that wolves damaged private property.

“We have not verified any further damage nor had reports of damage since,” Thompson said.

A handful of wolf packs live in and around Hunt Area 9, including the Yellowjacket and far-ranging Togwotee packs. Game and Fish officials estimated that both packs contained a minimum of nine wolves at the end of 2021.

Wolves from both packs — and others in the area — were legally hunted that year.