Idaho wolves (brief)

6/7/96.

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There is no information yet on whether any of the Idaho wolves
have had pups. There were no pups born to the "hard-released"
Idaho wolves in 1995. The Nez Perce tribal recovery team believes
that seven pairs of Idaho wolves denned.

The wolves are still keeping to the central Idaho wilderness and
they are seldom seen despite that fact that twenty additional wolves
were released this January in addition to the fifteen in 1995 (12
of these are still alive.) There is also one "wild" wolf paired
with wolf B15. This makes *at least* 33 wolves in Idaho, not counting
any pups.

According to Howard Teasley of the Nez Perce tribal recovery team,
there have been 11 reported wolf sightings this year compared to
63 for all of 1995. Ironically, before the reintroduction there
were hundreds of reported wolf sightings. I suppose this shows the power of
suggestion (many believed there was a native Idaho wolf population)
and mistook coyotes for wolves.

There were quite possibly a couple of non-reintroduced wolves, as
the wolf paired with B15 indicates.