Posted 6-18-98:
More news has come in on the situation with the Washakie Pack, the Dunoir area, and Mr. Gordon.
According to conversations and news in both the Jackson Hole News and the Jackson Hole Guide newspapers, the plan is to reduce the size of the pack from six to three wolves. The plan is to shoot the alpha female, number 26F, and two other wolves in order to break up the pack. The Guide reported that biologists believe killing half the pack, including the alpha, may well discourage further depredations. Biologist Joe Fontaine was quoted saying this method has had some success in Montana.
The plan is to kill number 26 and two of the uncollared wolves. So far only uncollared wolf 135 has been killed. He was shot under the assumption that he was his mother, 26F, which he resembled in color (gray). Despite the error, number 135 was scheduled to die.
Although Mr. Gordon has claimed the Washakie pack has killed a large number of his cattle, the recent actions were prompted by just one kill -- that of a 120 pound cow calf. The tracks of the entire pack were found around the kill, indicating that not just one or two pack members were involved in this depredation.
Rick Phillips, Wyoming director for Wildlife Services, which does the actual shooting, said that after killing the yearling, "the rest of the pack scurried to higher country and thick timber, making it impossible to get a clear shot."
The sound of helicopters sends the pack running because in the past the sound has always meant trouble for them. Last October, the alpha male, no. 15M, was shot from a helicopter. Last March three members of the pack where chased and netted from a copter in order to receive radio collars. Now 135 has been shot from a copter. Number 26 was also darted from a copter in B.C. and also in 1996 when she strayed too far toward civilization in the Paradise Valley north of Yellowstone. In fact, Ed Bangs had suggested aversive conditioning for the pack by playing recorded helicopter sounds when the wolves approached livestock. The window of opportunity for this obviously never came.
Gordon has not said whether he will drop his lawsuit asking an immediate end to all the wolves in Yellowstone and Idaho. The Fish and Wildlife Service said the actions taken were according to plan and unrelated to Gordon's lawsuit.
The Guide revealed that Gordon lives not just at the Diamond G, where he says his family are "no longer free to go for walks on their property without carrying a gun;" he also has a home in Jackson, Wyoming. A letter critical of recent events in the Dunoir to the News, "Gordon's Wolves," by Louise Crump of Jackson, said that Gordon was from New York City.
Gordon purchased the 48,000 acre ranch from Walt Disney's widow several years ago. At that time it was called the "Diamond D." Disney purchased the ranch in 1958 and renamed it the "Diamond D." The movie "Jubal" was filmed on "Diamond G" in 1950. At that time it was owned by Margo and Herb Stratford, originally from Chicago.
During the Disney period, I asked and received permission to cross the ranch and get to the public lands behind it. I hiked to Shoshone Pass and down the South Fork of the Shoshone River. It was a very scenic area, and there were lots of grizzly bears. The population of them, has if anything, increased in the years since.
It occurs to me that cattle depredation of the Diamond G may also be due to the grizzlies and the mountain lions that abound in the area.
Update: Wildlife Services shot the alpha female no. 26F on June 21, the first day of summer. Biologists who examined the dead wolves found both had number of broken teeth.
In an Associated Press story about the elmination of the wolves, Mark Hinschberger, a Shoshone National Forest wildlife biologist in Dubois, said the condition of the alpha pair's teeth might explain why they were killing cattle. Doug Smith, head of the Yellowstone wolf team suggested that, in addition, the lean winter and the absence of the alpha male, no. 15M, who was shot by ADC last October, may have pushed the pack over the edge to killing some livestock.
No. 26F had two broken and one missing canine teeth out of four, while the male, no. 15, shot last October, had one bad canine. Both wolves had been caged twice in the past -- once as they were brought from Canada, and later both 26 and 15 were recaptured and caged. The recaging was prior to the time 26F and 15M had met and paired.
Many people think of the ranchers, but many of the radio collars on these wolves have been purchased by wolf supporters. Has anyone thought of them?
The women whose collar fit around number 26, sent me the following:
Hi! As most of you know I sponsored #26 by purchasing her collar. Though I never got to see her, and only got to sponsor her for a short while, I grew to feel very close to her. I hope people will see by this that sponsoring wolves is a great experience, but can also, as everything in life, have it's triumphs and it's tragedies. There are more wolves out there that need our help, so let's everyone pitch in and save the wolves that need us so badly right now.
This is my dedication to wolf #26.
WOLF #26
A few short months ago a collar was placed on you.
Though the collar beared a name, you never really knew,
Never did you know what this name meant, nor will you ever.
For now you are gone from this earth, but to me you shall live forever.
I never got the chance to see you run wild and free,
though you shall forever remain in my heart with me.
Someday we shall meet up in the heavens,
then you will know the name on your collar was that of a friend.
. . . . . . .
Wolf #26 was taken on June 21, 1998
Written by Tiffany Lynn Heckel
Thank you Tiffany. . . Ralph Maughan
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