Last of the reintroduced wolves in the Greater Yellowstone shot. Government puts down 41F, sister of 42F
 

2-15-2004

And then there were none.

Few people thought limping and sick 41F would survive her sister 42F, but she did by about 2 weeks.

She was shot on Feb. 12 by Wildlife Services agents from the ground in 'Sunlight Basin, east of YNP, after she and a companion wolf had killed a cow calf. Her physical condition was very poor, essentially hopeless.

Here is the description by the USFWS.

"Two members of the Sunlight Basin pack killed a newborn calf on private land on the 6th. Female wolf #41- the last? of the original reintroduced wolves and the pack’s former alpha female was responsible. She is no longer alpha, has mange, and is limping, and is no longer closely associated with the pack. She was accompanied by another uncollared wolf with mange and only 2 sets of tracks were documented coming and going from the kill site. She and the other wolf are hanging out in the area where the calf was killed and she was actually located from the air on the fresh calf carcass. The rancher temporarily confined his 25 cow/calf pair to reduce the potential for continued problems but that can only be very short term solution. WS was authorized to kill both of them ASAP, as she was involved in several other cattle depredations over the past couple of years. Her chronic pattern of depredation, the wolves’ poor condition, and the dispersed nature of livestock throughout this area negate the potential for long-term success of any non-lethal tools. On the 12th, she was shot from the ground by WS. She had a lame front foot and severe mange. Further control is on hold unless there are further depredations."

Unlike her sister 42F, 41F couldn't or wouldn't tolerate the domination of her sister 40F in the Druid Pack, so she climbed over the Absaroka Range and meet dispersing Rose Creek male 52M and they formed the Sunlight Basin Pack in 1998-9, a pack which did very well until until it contracted mange in 2003. Both 52M and 41F died in 2003-4 (52M's death might have been natural).

There have been a lot of stories lately of notable wolves being killed or dying, but this should not give the impression the wolf population in Yellowstone Park is hurting.  It grow from 148 wolves at the end of 2002 to 174 at the end of 2003.  There was a slower growth rate in the entire Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. The population there, which includes the Yellowstone Park wolves, went from 273 to 306.  It's obvious that almost all of the growth was inside the Park, and population growth outside Yellowstone now essentially zero. That's an important thing to remember when Wyoming and Montana politicians yell about the "out of control" wolf population growth.

They don't bother to learn the facts, or maybe they don't care.

Story in Billings Gazette. Feb. 17, 2004.  By Mike Stark.
 

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  Copyright © 2004  Ralph Maughan

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