Thorofare Pack Decimated by Backcountry Brawl and Avalanche
Conflict between the the rarely seen, deep wilderness Thorofare and Soda Butte Packs has resulted in the death of Thorofare's alpha male, no. 35M. In a separate death, the alpha female (no. 30F) of the pack has been almost certainly killed in an avalanche.
It is all but certain, that the Soda Butte Pack killed no. 35. His dismembered and scavenged carcass was found near the confluence of the upper Yellowstone River with Yellowstone Lake. The Soda Butte Pack had been recently tracked in that general area at the about the time of his death, estimated at two weeks ago.
Number 30 met her likely end near Eagle Pass on the boundary of the Park and the Washakie Wilderness. Her body was not recovered; but her radio collar was recovered emitting mortality mode under the avalanche snow. Oddly, I was writing the description of the remote trail to Eagle Pass for a hiking guide about the time this avalanche occurred. It certainly is a place conducive to avalanches. It is steep country with jagged peaks and many avalanche areas. Nearby Eagle Peak is the highest point in Yellowstone.
Recent trapping and radio-collaring operations had revealed wolf no. 35 to be the biggest wolf in the Yellowstone Country. The Thorofare Pack has remained in the deep wilderness 25 miles from the nearest road since it formed in late summer 1996. Number 35 was the big black wolf who lost his first mate to a Park thermal feature just shortly after the duo's release as the "Lone Star Pair" in March 1996.
Number 30F, his new mate, whelped six pups last May. Number 30 was originally born to number 28M and 27F in British Columbia. Their pack (the Halfway Pack) was captured in B.C. and released in Yellowstone as the "Nez Perce Pack" in March 1996. For some reason upon release these wolves went their separate ways and the pack disintegrated.
The Soda Butte Pack was one of the three original packs released in Yellowstone in 1995. Last winter its alpha male, no. 13M "Old Blue," died of old age near Heart Lake. Since then the pack has been dominated by female wolves. The Soda Butte Pack briefly emerged into human view late in 1997 when it showed up in the north end of Jackson Hole. Many hoped, and some feared, that they would follow the elk migration southward onto the National Elk Refuge near the small city of Jackson. There they would feast on the thousands of wintering elk. It was not to be. They retreated back to Heart Lake inside Yellowstone. Unlike last winter, however, it appears that Soda Butte continued its explorations and entered the Thorofare Country which is about ten miles east of Heart Lake.
Five of the pack's six pups born in May 1997 have been located on the SE boundary of Yellowstone (adjacent to the Teton Wilderness area) since the death of their parents. Thus, one pup may be missing too. This February, two pups in the pack were radio-collared. One pup's collar was soon lost when the pack chewed it off. Interestingly, The same thing happened to one of the newly-collared members of the Leopold Pack.
The pups had grown well and weighed from 80 to 90 pounds -- certainly large enough to kill elk as a pack. Their future is cloudy, however, because they are still inexperienced hunters, and while the Thorofare Country is rich in elk in the summer, in the winter only a small herd winters in. The area also has a substantial moose population, but moose are difficult prey for adult wolves, much less pups.
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Copyright © 1998 Ralph Maughan
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