One of the re-released Sheep Mountain wolves dead. Probably drowned.

One of the re-released Sheep Mountain wolves dead. Probably drowned.

3-13-2001, updated 4-19

One of the former members of the Sheep Mountain Pack, who was captured, conditioned on the Turner Ranch, and re-released last December has been found dead in Tom Miner Basin, the victim of an apparent drowning in the creek. Wolf 189M was found dead on March 2. The wolf appeared to have entered a swift part of the creek.

There is speculation that he may have been chased by the Chief Joseph Pack, a long-standing pack that includes the Tom Miner Basin as part of its range, and which has defended the territory aggressively against the local ranch's sheep dogs. Chief Joe apparently sees the dogs as rival wolves and has killed a number of them.

Wolf 189M, the dead wolf, had been traveling with his brother and 155F, a disperser from the Rose Creek Pack in YNP. There is still a good chance that 155F and 196M (189M's brother) will produce pups this spring. They have so far set up a range extending from Tom Miner Basin north along the Gallatin Range to about to Emigrant, Montana in the Paradise Valley.

The other brother, 195M, has been traveling with another group of wolves.

Update 4-19-2001. Following the death of 189M, 155F and 196M split up. Whether she has been impregnated is not known. 155F was caught sniffing a new born cow calf in Tom Miner Basin and was driven off by the rancher, but neither 155F, 196M or 195M have attacked any livestock.

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