The Pleasant Valley pack of NW Montana has been reduced to just three members after they have repeatedly preyed on livestock. This pack inhabits country near Marion, which is about 30 miles west of Kalispell. It is one of just five breeding packs in the Montana recovery area, so its continuation is important for the wolf recovery. The three will be allowed to remain if they don't kill livestock.
The action came after the rancher suffered five calf losses this month.
Last month four members of the pack were trapped and released miles to the east in South Fork of the Flathead River area due to the pack's attacks on livestock. Since that time they have remained together and a week ago had move west into the Swan Valley. Ideally, they will form the nucleas of a new pack.
Joe Fontaine, the lead Montana biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the attack may be due in part to a shortage of whiletailed deer. The deer population crashed in the winter of 1996-7 and has not recovered. Since that time the Montana wolf recovery has also stalled out and attacks on livestock have increased. Unlike the Yellowstone wolves and the Idaho wolves, the Montana wolves rely more on deer than elk. Whether this is a random occurance due to the fact the the Montana wolves found there own way from Canada rather than being reintroduced into the most prey rich areas like the Idaho and Yellowstone wolves, is hard to say.
There had been a previous wolf pack in the Marion area, but it was put down back in 1989 due to livestock attacks.
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