Wolf no. 11 from the Idaho reintroduction has been seen several times by quite a few people during the last month just to the south and east of Salmon, Idaho. This has been in the valley close to houses, highways, and on farms. This has raised concern from some residents that the wolf will attack livestock, pets, or be killed herself.Until this time the Idaho wolves, unlike the Yellowstone wolves, have remained mostly unseen by humans.
No. 11 was lost to the wolf trackers from July 25 until late October. In late July, she was deep in the Frank Church/River of No Return Wilderness near Chamberlain Basin.
At some point, she headed east and crossed the Salmon River and the Salmon River Valley (where the town of Salmon, Idaho is located) and climbed up into the jagged Bitteroot Range of the Beaverhead Mountains (which is the Continental Divide and Idaho/Montana border). She was located by airplane late in October near Jackson, Montana (don't confuse with Jackson, WY). This is on the west side of the Bitterroot Range of the Beaverheads (and don't confuse it with the Bitterroot Range near Hamilton, Montana).
But on Nov. 13 biologist Mike Jimenez picked up her radio-collar signal while in his pickup truck in downtown Salmon. She was in the rural sprawl on the south side of town near the high school.
On Nov. 18 a number of motorists saw her wander through the pastures along state highway 28 near Baker (about 10 miles SE of Salmon in the Lemhi River Valley). Baker is a gas station, store and a couple houses in a ranch area along the Lemhi River.
In Nov. she was also seen swimming the Salmon River about 12 miles south of Salmon. This would put her at the bottom of the canyon between Salmon and Challis, not far from Hussey's Ranch where wolf no. 13 was shot dead last January.
On Nov. 28, she was located by aircraft near Williams Lake in the Salmon River Mountains about 15 miles SW of Salmon on the national forest. However, on Dec. 4, she was back near Baker, 25 miles to east of Williams Lake.
Some ranchers want her trapped, but to me it seems that would do little good. No. 11 is one of the widest-ranging of the Idaho wolves. Since she was released, she has ranged over 1000 linear miles. She has been as far west as Cascade, Idaho (on the west side of the state); south to near Stanley, Idaho; and to the Big Hole Valley in SW Montana (about 40 miles east of Salmon).
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