Here is the latest Yellowstone wolf update.
I found the most interesting news to be that once the Nez Perce enclosure was opened late on June 22, the male wolves promptly left the pen and later the female, no.67, with help from other wolves, moved her four pups to the nearby den site of 29M and 48F which contains an unobserved number of pups. These initial events bode well for the formation of a large and cohesive pack, and one that will hopefully stay in Yellowstone. Ideally it will occupy the central part of the Park where there is year round prey and no other wolf packs.
These wolves may become quite visible to folks in the Madison Junction and the nearby geyser basin areas.
Last year number 29M was the leader of the pack, but he repeatedly escaped from the pen. Finally the wolf team decided to let him go free under the belief he would stay near the pen. He did, and soon his sister, no. 48F, showed up from parts unknown.
No. 29 escaped three times as have several other wolves in that pen. According to wolf team head, Doug Smith, this was probably done by leaping the vertical 12 feet to the overhanging portion of the chain link fence; hanging from the chain link by the teeth, and exploiting any irregularities in its contour to get a leg up, and thus over the top.
In other pup news, two pups have finally been seen with the Druid Peak pack in the Lamar Valley area. There are probably more. In the Pelican Valley one pup-of-the-year has been observed for the Crystal Creek Pack. It is assumed there are more to be seen.
The Chief Joseph Pack is still at their densite in the NW corner of the Park. No. 16F (sometimes called "Chief Joseph II") has moved her pups southward to near the northern boundary of Yellowstone. She and her six pups are in the backcountry and not visible to tourists. Meanwhile her only known surviving pup from 1997, number 111F was recently found dead in the Washburn Range of the Park. The cause of death has not yet been determined. I have heard some speculation that the yearling starved, but her carcass weighed 70 pounds -- not heavy, but not a starvation weight either.
The Soda Butte Pack was located in the Thorofare and the Thorofare Pack yearlings were also located in the Thorofare. The remote Thorofare portion of the Park is their original home. They left it last winter after the Soda Butte Pack killed the alpha male and another member of the pack. At about the same time, the alpha female was killed in an avalanche.
The remnants of the Washakie Pack -- four yearlings, 132, 133, 134, and
138 -- have remained in the DuNoir, which is the place where Steve Gordon's Diamond G ranch is located. It was decided not to kill another member of the pack. Hopefully, the livestock predation was due to the worn nature of the alpha female's teeth, and the pack will kill no more livestock. If they do, it is highly likely the pack will be eliminated.I understand that the teeth of yearlings are sound. They were captured last winter for radio-collaring. When a wolf is captured to radio-collar, it is generally given a thorough physical examination. The pups were a bit small compared to other Yellowstone area pups, probably because the alpha female had to provide most of the food, and did so with broken canine teeth.
Number 15M, the alpha male of the Washakie Pack was killed for livestock depredation last October. Numbers 135 and 26F were killed this June for the same reason.
Current population summary-
The Yellowstone wolf team estimates that there are 115 free-ranging wolves in the Yellowstone country. They form 11 packs or groups. Thirty-five pups have been identified so far this year. They estimate there are 7 "un-monitorable, free-ranging wolves." One wolf with a radio collar is missing.I should add that while there are 11 packs or groups of wolves, there are not ten pairs with pups, and hence 1998 is not year number one toward delisting the wolf in the Yellowstone experimental wolf population area.
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