Yellowstone wolf 9F, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother of about half of the wolves in Yellowstone might have left or been driven away from her pack. Beginning in September, no. 9 has been located away from her pack and sometimes with the pack. Most recently she has not been located at all. This does not mean she has been thrown out of the pack, or is sick; but she is pretty old now, her former black coat now bluish gray. I estimate she is at least 7 years old, and could be several years older.
A special flight is being planned to try an locate her and wolf 92M, who recently dispersed from the Nez Perce pack. The dispersal of 9F and 92M is unrelated.
No. 9 was captured in Alberta and brought to Yellowstone with her daughter no. 7F. Number 9 was paired with bold wolf 10M. About a month after their release into the Park, she whelped 8 pups under tree on Mount Maurice above Red Lodge, Montana. Her mate was dead, shot by Chad McKittrick, who has since served his prison sentence for his deed.
No. 9 and her 8 pups were taken back to the Rose Creek pen, where they were raised all summer until their release, when they were immediately joined by no. 8M, a young male from the nearby Crystal Creek Pack to form what has always been the largest pack in Park and maybe now the largest in North America.
No. 9 had additional litters of pups in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. All of her 1997 litter drowned in the Lamar River, however. All of her first litter eventually left the pack, except no. 20M, who was killed by a UPS truck while still a pup. Only her daughter 18F stayed with pack. Number 18 has now had many litters of her own. The pups of both no. 9 and 18 were raised by the Rose Creek pack, all of these pups from 1996 on were probably sired by no. 8M. Her daughter 16F is the alpha female of the Sheep Mountain Pack. Her son no. 21M is the alpha male of the Druid Peak Pack. Her daughter 7F ("Rosie," born in Alberta) is the alpha female of the Leopold Pack. Her son, 52M, born in 1996, is the alpha male of the Sunlight Basin Pack.
Many articles are found in my archives about no. 9. This article may, or may not, be the requiem of her decline. Folks may recall that the famous white wolf, no. 39F began as the alpha female of the Druid Peak Pack, a pack that has long seemed unbalanced with extra adult females. Thirty-nine increasingly left the pack, perhaps driven away by the younger no. 40F and/or 41F (the former is still the pack's alpha female). Number 39 wandered about the northern range of Yellowstone, and even north up into the Crazy Mountains. She almost paired with no. 9's ambitious son, no. 21M from Rose Creek; but he dumped her to become alpha male of Druids. About 6 months later she was mistakenly shot near Sunlight Basin by a ranch hand who said he thought she was a coyote.
11-2-99.
Number 9F has been located. She turned up near Slough Creek, but not with the Rose Creek Pack. She is alone.
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