Two wolves killed by ADC after killing cattle-
Wildlife Services (formerly named Animal Damage Control) has trapped and killed two, two-year-old members of the famous Ninemile Pack in NW Montana. The wolves are suspected of killing several cow calves in both April and May. No further control actions are planned unless more livestock depredations take place.
History of the Ninemile Pack-
The Ninemile Pack began 1989 when a male and female met in the Ninemile
Valley about 30 miles north of Missoula. The pack has had many ups and downs. Its early history was chronicled in The Ninemile Wolves by Rich Bass. The Ninemile Valley is certainly not a urban area, but it has many farms with cattle, numerous roads, and a good deal of ongoing timber harvest. Many people find the persistence and generally "good" behavior of this pack surprising given all the human activity in its territory.Since 1990 the pack had been responsible for the death of only 4 cows calves. In the past depredation has been controlled by trapping, collaring, and releasing the wolves where they had been trapped. This is the first time this method did not work.
With the deaths of the these two members of the pack, Ninemile retains 5 or 6 adult wolves and a litter of pups born this April, according to Mike Jimenez, a University of Montana wolf researcher who has been diligently studying the Ninemile Pack the last several years.
Jimenez recently gave a presentation on this pack at the Interagency Wolf Conference in Chico, Montana in late April. His presentation documented that wolves can live in close proximity to human activities and settlements with minimal conflict.
The Ninemile Pack has not only persisted in the Ninemile Valley, it has been the source of a number of dispersing wolves into Montana and northern Idaho. One wolf even made it to northeast Washington where it was killed.
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