2005 Washington Revised Code RCW 77.36.030: Trapping or killing wildlife causing damage — Emergency situations.

(1) Subject to the following limitations and conditions, the owner, the owner's immediate family member, the owner's documented employee, or a tenant of real property may trap or kill on that property, without the licenses required under RCW 77.32.010 or authorization from the director under RCW 77.12.240, wild animals or wild birds that are damaging crops, domestic animals, or fowl:

     (a) Threatened or endangered species shall not be hunted, trapped, or killed;

     (b) Except in an emergency situation, deer, elk, and protected wildlife shall not be killed without a permit issued and conditioned by the director or the director's designee. In an emergency, the department may give verbal permission followed by written permission to trap or kill any deer, elk, or protected wildlife that is damaging crops, domestic animals, or fowl; and

     (c) On privately owned cattle ranching lands, the land owner or lessee may declare an emergency only when the department has not responded within forty-eight hours after having been contacted by the land owner or lessee regarding damage caused by wild animals or wild birds. In such an emergency, the owner or lessee may trap or kill any deer, elk, or other protected wildlife that is causing the damage but deer and elk may only be killed if such lands were open to public hunting during the previous hunting season, or the closure to public hunting was coordinated with the department to protect property and livestock.

     (2) Except for coyotes and Columbian ground squirrels, wildlife trapped or killed under this section remain the property of the state, and the person trapping or killing the wildlife shall notify the department immediately. The department shall dispose of wildlife so taken within three days of receiving such a notification and in a manner determined by the director to be in the best interest of the state.

[1996 c 54 § 4.]