Remaining members of Sheep Mountain Pack to be re-released today
Will the conditioning of the wolves prevent them from attacking livestock?
The three surviving members of the Sheep Mountain Pack are expected to be released today into their previous home territory near Daily Lake 20 miles north of Yellowstone Park. The wolves have spent 6 months in a rehabilitation facility on Turner's Flying D Ranch near Bozeman, MT.
Since the wolves' capture, researchers have conducted experiments using electronic shock collars to shock the captive wolves when they approach a cow calf, bison, or cowhide put in their enclosure.
Northern Rockies wolf recovery leader Ed Bangs was reported saying the experiment has been very successful inside the enclosure. The wolves will now have a second chance.
The once-large pack, most of which were of the offspring of plucky wolf 16F, one of the original 8 Rose Creek pups of 1995, was decimated by control actions after they attacked some of the numerous livestock in the area. Still more were killed as the result of the capture process, including no.16, who died later of liver and kidney failure due to the stress of capture and movement to the ranch.
If any of the three wolves attack livestock after the experiment, they will be killed.
The purpose of the experiment is to see if a livestock-adverse pack could be established just north of Yellowstone Park in a natural dispersion corridor for wolves from the Park. If a livestock-aversive pack controlled the area, then other wolves would be driven from the zone which extends from just north of Gardiner to near Chico Hot Springs. The area has thousands of deer and elk from mid-winter until March. It also has many cattle. As long as there are wolves in Yellowstone, wolves will disperse north into what has been the territory of the Sheep Mountain Pack.
It is possible that some new uncollared wolves have already reinhabited the area, but perhaps not.
The experiment is controversial among some who think the cattle should go rather than wolves, and others who view the experiment as cruel and/or denigrating to the naturalness of wolves.
Dec. 7, 2000. Shocked wolves set free to roam. Associated Press.
Dec. 9. 2000. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just reported that there may be a new pack of up to 7 wolves north of the Sheep Mountain Pack's Territory. Some folks may remember that in 1999, wolf 78F from the Rose Creek Pack had a litter and moved north into Paradise Valley and the Montana Absaroka Mountains. She found an uncollared mate along the way. In early January 2000, she was found shot. She was the only radio-collared member of the pack, so this may be her pack.
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