The Clintons feed the Rose Creek pups

8/30/95.

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I have a bit of wolf reintroduction news.

You probably saw on TV that President Clinton got to feed the wolves (5 pups and their mother) in the Rose Creek pen in YNP. I was told by someone at the event that the President seemed to really enjoy it, and to perceive furthering the wolf program as a winning political issue.

In other good news, the President *really* saw stopping the "Mine from Hell", the Noranda gold mine on the mountain above Cooke City, MT, 2 miles from the Park, as a winning issue.

There are still 3 pups outside the Rose Creek Pen, one was recently captured and put back in the pen. The pups weigh from 30 - 45 pounds. They will be released when it is decided they are more likely to be an asset to their mother rather than a liability; and, further, after hunting season. There is a feeling that even though the pups have not gained the hunting skills they typically would (having been penned), prey is so abundant in Yellowstone that their mother will easily teach them what to do.

There is no hunting in Yellowstone, but the fall elk hunt in the surrounding wilderness areas is a big affair. It was 4 years ago that a Wyoming elk hunter killed a wolf just south of Yellowstone in the Teton Wilderness near Fox Park. He said he thought it was a coyote.

The very visible Crystal Bench pack abandoned the Lamar Valley several weeks ago as the elk migrated out. The pack has been frequenting the vicinity of the Pelican Valley lately. This is just north and northeast of Yellowstone Lake. Visitors have enjoyed watching them there much as visitors did earlier in the Lamar. The Pelican Valley is a bit less visible from the road, however, and there are foot travel restrictions. It has long been a notable grizzly bear concentration area.

I think the House of Representatives provided full funding for the wolf program. Senator Burns successful cut the program by 40% in the Senate. The conference committee will resolve the difference. Those I spoke to were *fairly* confident that there would be money to carry on more reintroductions this fall, and there is talk about bringing in 30 more wolves to both Idaho and Yellowstone this time rather than the planned 15, and then ending the reintroductions. Trapping and transporting 30 wolves would not cost a lot more than securing 15. That way the political gauntlet would not have to be run again in 1996 or 97.

In Idaho, there are now 3 pairs of wolves; and 13 reintroduced wolves total (one shot dead last winter; one probably back in Canada, no. B3).