Two of scattered Nez Perce Pack caught

6/18/96.

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Now that the Soda Butte Pack has been recaptured, biologists
are working on capturing some, or all, of the widely scattered
Nez Perce pack which was released from the new (in 1996) Nez
Perce acclimation enclosure on the west side of Yellowstone
National Park.

The first two of the pack have now been captured, and are in the
Rose Creek acclimation enclosure (the Soda Butte Pack is several
miles away in the Crystal Creek Bench acclimation enclosure).

The two wolves, which I assume are male no. 29 and female no. 37,
were captured in Paradise Valley between Elbow and Mill Creeks.

Several days ago shots were fired over the heads of these two wolves
because they were near livestock (although not attacking the live-
stock). The reintroduction rules for the Yellowstone and the Idaho
wolves allow livestock owners to harass -- try to frighten away --
wolves that are near their livestock. They do not allow killing
of the wolf or wolves unless they are in the act of attacking live-
stock.

The alpha female of the splintered pack is still in the Stillwater
River drainage, perhaps still with her new pups, although there
is speculation they are dead. The alpha male and a second year male
have been in the NW part of Yellowstone, while two second year
females have been in Sunlight Basin to the east of the Park in the
Absaroka Mountains about 30 miles NW of Cody, Wyoming.

This pack has been important in the minds of many because they were
captured together in British Columbia feeding on a bison they had
killed, the only wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone that seem to
possess the knowledge of how to kill bison. Bison have become very
abundant in the Park; and they are increasingly spending part of the
year outside the Park, although their numbers are probably less of
a factor than the presence of snowmobile trails that invite the
bison to follow these trails out of the Park.

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In an Idaho item, a friend recently spent several nights deep in
the Frank Church Wilderness's Chamberlain Basin (the most remote
part of the central Idaho wilderness areas). He became one of the
few to hear the Idaho wolves howling.