Druid 103F retains her 3 pups, plus Druids may be about to leave the Lamar.
July 28, 2001, update Aug.8, 2001
Despite reports that the second Druid litter was down to two pups the following update from John Harryman will interest folks, Thanks, John!
I'm spending summer at Roosevelt Lodge, & I'm helping a bit with observations of the Druids.
Seldom do I get to the internet, but I just read your page. Just last night, Thursday, I spotted three of 103's pups from atop Dave's Hill at the Slough Creek turnoff road. This was a big event because we had been concerned since a fella reported seeing a pup hit hard and beaten up by a coyote. We hadn't seen much of anything since then at the site--including no adults for quite some time including yesterday. 103 was at the rendezvous site on Wednesday with several other wolves.
Today's spotting flight will be helpful in locating the Druids. 21M a few nights back may have taken the nine pups from the main den up Lamar river or up Specimen Ridge trail--their first hike. Maybe it's a training exercise. All hope that they return to the regular rendezvous site. Yesterday may have been first day this year that wolves were not seen in the Lamar... I have watched many grizzly bears in the Druid rendezvous site during the past week-one where five yearlings surrounded a big griz who would chase them--then the griz arose on his hind legs--just like a scene in movies. Two days ago a young bull moose came into the rendezvous site and was chased briefly by 4 Druids--too healthy and fast for the smart wolves I suppose.
The Druids test bison a bit, but the bison either ignore or charge them--so the Druids to me don't appear to be a threat to the Lamar bison. It is an awesome sight to see as many as 15 Druids file out of the den forest, led by huge 21M. They cross Hwy 212, swim across Soda Butte Creek, then gather for a pep rally, where they howl and kiss and wag tails....I suppose saying 'let's go get some elk'. Then they take off , swim the Lamar, and test all animals in the valley and chase some; we watched them for miles. Those days are over however, now that the elk are up high. JMHarryman
Update 8-8-2001. Harryman reports: "None of the Druids have been seen in the Lamar since about August 3, so no longer has it been necessary to control traffic at the den forest to keep wolves from being run over. Rick and Erin of YNPS are really dedicated to wolf survival and have no doubt prevented the deaths of one or more Druids.
26 Druids including the 9 main-den pups were at the Lamar Ranger Station on Aug 1 and 2. On Aug 2 we watched 17 Druids chase a griz sow and two cubs-of-year who wandered into the wolves. They ran, made a stand, ran again & a cub treed. The sow was busy with fangs and claws chasing the wolves surrounding the tree--the other cub went into the trees of Specimen Ridge out of view. The wolves returned after another chase into the trees--no pups went on the chase.
About every day recently two of 103's pups have been seen at Slough Creek, and a few days ago for several hours the grey wolf which Rick McIntyre has identified as the beta male plus a black yearling were with the two pups. So wolf sightings have been slim; thousands of park visitors daily continue to want to view a wolf.
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