First batch of new wolves arrives

1/23/96.

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Eleven new wolves have come to Yellowstone National Park. An
uncertain number of additional wolves are expected later this
week.

According to a news release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in Denver, 5 males and 6 females from from different
family groups or packs have been brought to Yellowstone. Most
of them are light grey in color. They weigh from 82 to 130
pounds.

The wolves will be placed in one-acre pens for about 10 weeks
to acclimate them to Yellowstone. Biologists also hope that
the period in the pens will result in pack unity and mating as
it did last year.

Nine wolves have been captured for immediate release in central
Idaho's Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Last year
15 wolves were released in this vast central Idaho wilderness
area. Most of the Idaho wolves are young adults that would have
been dispersing from their own packs at this time of year to
search for mates.

The nine wolves bound for Idaho are presently in Missoula. Their
release is being delayed due to bad weather and insistence by
the Idaho state veternarian that they be tested for disease. The
wolves were taken from a 3000 square mile area in the Rocky
Mountain foothills 100 miles northwest of Ft. St. John, British
Columbia. The area were the wolves were captured is free of
rabies, tuberculosis, and brucellosis.

The biologists who captured the wolves had to brave temperatures
from -20 to -65 degrees F. and snow depths of 4 to 6 feet, accord-
ing to the news release. The wolves had been feeding on bison,
elk, and deer, all of which are found in Yellowstone National Park.

Spokesperson Ralph Morgenwreck of the Fish and Wildlife Service
said "This [capture] would not [have been] possible without the
cooperation of the Province of British Columbia and the donation
of time and funds by private organizations such as the Wolf Educa-
tion and Research Center in Ketchum, Idaho."