Alphas from 2
Wyoming packs dead. Investigation underway.
Sunlight Basin, Greybull Packs lose leading males
11-18-2003
update
12-8-03
Four of the five dead wolves were illegally killed
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that Mike Jimenez and law enforcement agent Tim Eicher found 274M dead. He was the alpha male of the Greybull River Pack. The case is under investigation, a good indication this was not a natural mortality. Wolf 274 is a famous wolf because he was born in central Idaho as wolf B58M and traveled hundreds of miles east by an unknown route to form the Greybull Pack which was (at the time) the most easterly pack in Wyoming. The Greybull Pack lives southwest of Meeteetse, mostly inside the Washakie Wilderness.
Mike Jimenez told me the Greybull Pack now has about 7 members, including 3 pups surviving from the April-born litter of five pups.
A worse blow was struck against the long-standing Sunlight Basin Pack. Under investigation are the deaths of alpha male 52M, 263M, a yearling, and a pup. 52M was born to the Rose Creek pack back in 1996 (wolf 9F's second litter). He teamed up with Druid female 41F after her sister, the notorious 40F, drove her from the Druid Pack. 52M and 41F moved over the mountain to the Sunlight Basin/North Absaroka Wilderness area and raised litters every year from 1999 to the present. With these deaths, the Sunlight Basin pack consists of the old female 41F (Druid 42F's sister) and 6 other wolves including 3 pups still surviving from the spring litter of five. There is a radio-collared 2 year old male who would seem to be in the position to become the new alpha male.
These are the first suspected illegal killings of Wyoming wolves in about 2 years.
Update 12-8-03. There is more information on this story. Tim Eicher USFS special agent told the Cody Enterprise that all of the dead wolves were illegally killed, probably shot, except perhaps 52M, the alpha male of the Sunlight Basin Pack. He might have died of natural causes. Wolf 263M's cut collar was found in Buffalo Bill Reservoir, west of Cody.
The alpha male of the Greybull Pack, SW of Meeteetse was also killed by gunshot.
Wolf 263 was not mentioned as a mortality above in original story of 11-18. His death wasn't discovered until later when his collar was found in the reservoir. Buffalo Bill reservoir is not part of the Pack's territory).
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