Teton Pack kills a cow calf in revived grazing allotment in GTNP

8-12-2004

Two years ago it looked like significant livestock grazing in Grand Teton National Park had run its course -- was through after 52 years of waiting.
 

This was very important for the standpoint of all wildlife and ending the spread of noxious weeds which seem to trail after the cattle.  In addition, the Teton wolf pack had a den just one-and-a-half miles from the most obnoxious livestock site -- the "East Elk Ranch Pasture."
 

Fortunately efforts to keep the cattle and wolves apart were successful. Livestock "depredations" were few to none, although the alpha female of the pack got a taste of an already dead cow back in 2000.
 

When the Hansen-Mead family pulled out in 2002, the East Elk Ranch Pasture would be used for cows no more (or so we thought), but the this year the Porter-Gill-Lockhart family decided to revive the lease. Their cattle are in the pasture and the pack has killed a 400 pound cow calf, hardly a big deal, and no wolf control is planned, but it is irritating because the wolves get a taste of beef.
 

Moreover, this year the pack's hunting pattern changed to one state wildlife managers and many hunters may like better. In the past, after elk leave the immediate Elk Ranch area of the Park, the pack heads east and southeast to the Mt. Leidy Highlands and the Gros Ventre River on the Bridger-Teton National Forest to hunt.  Although there is little evidence the pack has depleted the elk herd, outfitters complain.
 

This year to the delight of almost everyone the pack has instead moved west across the highway to hunt along the Snake River inside the Park where the elk herd seems to be growing, perhaps attracting elk from other (hunted) areas.  Unfortunately, this hunting pattern takes the wolves pack right past the cow pasture.
 

Before this grazing season began, columnist Todd Wilkinson did a good article on the Grand Teton National Park grazing resumption.

Will cattle in the national park protect open space? By Todd Wilkinson

Photos I took the grazing area in question in 2001. Ralph Maughan.

Update on 8-13-04. He are the details of the ongoing situation as reported by the USFWS.

On the night of the 10th, members of the Teton wolf pack killed and ate a 400 lb. calf in Grand Teton National Park in NW WY.  Jimenez confirmed the depredation and that the cattle were being legally grazed in GTNP.  The WY Service field crew is on site with cracker shells, rubber bullets, and lights etc. During the night of the 12th wolves were in cattle chasing and testing them until they were driven off by cracker shells.  The wolves quickly returned however and were driven off several times, but no depredations occurred.  Our biologists will be camped by the cattle for another night.  GTNP or the herder will take over those actions soon.  The cattle are between the pack's rendezvous site and a river bottom- where the elk are so the wolves are crossing back and forth through cattle to get to the elk.  They were observed going through cattle again on the 11th night. We will watch the situation closely for now and will recommend a more active course of action [my emphasis] if it there are any additional depredations. Several conservation groups from the GYA have called asking about Service and Park response to this situation, and asked us what they are going to do, if more conflicts occur.

My note: "the more active course of action" should be removal of the cattle from the Park, in fact, it seems there were promises made at the beginning of year that the cattle would be removed should the wolves kill any cattle.

  Copyright © 2004 Ralph Maughan