Wyoming wolves: Teton Pack is crumbling, and another new Jackson Hole area pack?
As indicated in earlier reports, the long-standing Teton Pack left the Jackson Hole area last winter for the country around Hoback to the south. Now it looks like the pack is breaking up with some of the pack's wolves in the Upper Green River area, one near Pinedale, a couple in the territory of the old Daniel Pack, and a couple in hills near Jackson. Most of these places are not good ones for wolves. Wolves keep dispersing to Sublette County, but usually don't last due to all the livestock and natural gas development.
The reason for the pack's dispersal might have been the injury and euthanization of the alpha male. The alpha male sustained a broken back due to some natural cause. He was discovered by a road way last fall, unable to get up and with withered hindquarters. He was euthanized to put him out of his misery.
As mentioned earlier the Buffalo Pack of ten wolves is new to Jackson Hole this year. Now it has been discovered that one of the fleeing Nez Perce pack wolves paired with a dispersing Gibbon Pack wolf (the Gibbon Pack destroyed the remnanats of the Nez Perce Pack last winter). The two were just captured and recollared. The male is 481M. He came from the Nez Perce Pack. He was given a new collar, a GPS collar. The former Gibbon Meadows female is 485F. Their territory and whether they have pups hasn't been determined yet. They are being called the Sage Pack.
List of current packs in Jackson Hole and the nearby mountains:
As a final note, remember 3-legged Druid wolf 253M? He is currently wandering alone in the Wyoming Range.