From your article

The agency investigated 73 deaths in 2020 and approved 31. The owners received full payment, averaging about $1,000 to $1,2000 per animal.

Between 2017 and 2021, Sandau said, the department received $1.6 million in requests from the fund. The department was only able to pay out $725,000 – about $181,000 a year.

It didn’t have enough money to reimburse all of the claims for missing cattle that the ranchers had requested.

“We’ve never been able to meet the full requests since the inception of the program,” Sandau said.

I breed and train canines for a living, I love all doglike creatures, and I happen to own property in the white river valley. While I agree that ranchers have recourse, I also know that losing a couple cattle can be devastating to their finances, and I know that when they suspect a wolf attack upon their livestock our wonderful state does everything they possibly can to deny their claims.