Pup update

Latest update 7-19-99

Here is the latest information on the denning season. I keep getting new information. Rather than write a large number of short stories, I will keep track of it here for as long as it makes sense to do so.

Yellowstone northern range packs-

Chief Joseph no. 1- Six pups have been observed. This is a firm final count.

Sheep Mountain Pack (formerly called "Chief Joseph no. 2")- Denned. This pack has finally been named.  It will be the Sheep Mountain Pack. Sheep Mountain is the prominent peak just north of Gardiner.  Sheep Mountain is very visible from the Mammoth Hot Springs area as one looks northward. At first only one pup was seen, then two.  Now that the pack is being monitored very closely the count is 6-9 pups. The pack has fortunately so far stayed away from the nearby cattle -- about 1 1/2 miles away.

Leopold. Four pups have been observed. Number 7F, the alpha female of the Leopold Pack is the offspring of matriarch no. 9F. Number 7 was born to number 9 before the wolf reintroduction, i.e., 7F was born in Alberta. Nine has had at least six litters of pups!

Rose Creek. Three Rose Creek females have litters in the pack this year. No. 9F, the alpha female, has at least two. This is her fifth litter since she was introduced to Yellowstone. Her daughter, 18F (born in 1995) again had a large litter -- seven. However, only four pups survived. She and her mother are now up on the Buffalo Plateau for summer and the litters are probably combined.  No. 9's daughter from 1997, no. 78 has a litter of at least three. No. 78 is not with the bulk of the Rose Creek Pack, and was observed on 7-18 in Little Cottonwood Creek down by the Yellowstone River.

Druid Peak. Six pups came down from Druid Peak this year. This is the biggest litter ever for this pack.

Other Yellowstone Country wolves:

Crystal Creek: Denned in their traditional location in Pelican Valley. No pups have been observed.

Soda Butte: Didn't den for the second year.  (refer to my past reports for information on the many travels of this pack trying to find a mate for the alpha female, no. 14F).

Nez Perce: Denned. Added 5-7-99 No good observations have been obtained.

Sunlight pair: This is a new pack. Four pups have been observed at the pack's rendezvous site. The father was born in the Rose Creek Pack back in 1996. The mother is formerly from the Druid Peak Pack. She was born in British Columbia. One of the adults may have recently been involved in a livestock depredation.  The Fish and Wildlife Service reports that lithium chloride is being used here in a conditioned taste aversion experiment.

Teton Duo (Renamed the Teton Pack): Denned near Elk Ranch Reservoir, but the den was disturbed (human?). As a result, no. 24F was found to have 5 pups when she relocated them to a new den two miles away. See separate story on this. The pups were seen playing with 133M outside the new den on 5-13. Unfortunately no. 133M was recently killed on U.S. Highway 26. Will she be able to raise the pups on her own with cows nearby?

Jackson Trio (Renamed the Gros Ventre Pack): Denned north of the Elk Refuge. The pack has pups in an unrevealed location.  I understand that cattle are nearby this pack's rendezvous site too.

Dunoir group: This is now being called "Washakie II" by some. This pair, trio, quartet? is thought to have denned near the old Washakie Pack densite according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to catch one of these wolves so the pack can be tracked.

Idaho:

Ten of  the 12 traditional packs (radio-collared) are thought to have denned, including the Selway Pack, which hasn't denned for two years now. They are: Kelly Creek, Big Hole, Selway, Chamberlain Basin, Jureano Mountain, Moyer Basin, Twin Peaks, White Cloud, Stanley Basin, and Thunder Mountain. There may be other unrecognized breeding pairs.

The Snow Peak Pack may not have denned. Things are unclear about the Landmark Pack (or even if it really exists; biologists need an observation, not just the radio track of a collared male that stays near their traditional densite). Folks may recall that in April 1998, the alpha pair of this large pack turned up dead in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River area. The fate of their uncollared offspring is not known, although it is thought that they survive.

There are no final counts in yet for Idaho. Curt Mack told me they wanted to check and doublecheck before they released the official numbers.  In most parts of central Idaho counting pups is more difficult than in Yellowstone due to the more rugged and forested nature of the country.

Montana:

Hopes are high for the dwindling wolf population in northern Montana (those naturally-recovered wolves outside of the experimental wolf area). The Montana population has dwindled to just five packs and a minimum of 41 wolves. Some hope was expressed at the conference that new pairs would jump start the population back to near ten packs or pairs as the northwestern Montana prey base (mostly white-tailed deer) recovers from the disastrous winter of 1996-7. Eight packs or pairs are thought to have denned: South Camas, Graves Creek, Murphy Lake, Whitefish, Little Wolf, Ninemile, Boulder, and Bass Creek (Bitterroot). 

However, one of the five remaining packs is now gone -- the Pleasant Valley Pack has just been eliminated due to continuing livestock depredations. Therefore, we are officially down to just four packs prior to the new pups counts.

In mid-June the Bass Creek Pack which has inhabited the Bitterroot Front in extreme western Montana, was captured due to livestock depredations.   The entire pack was moved to an enclosure at McCall, Idaho.  There were 9 pups and the alpha female only weighed 70 pounds.  This indicates poor nutrition to me.   The alpha male was unfortunately killed in the pen as biologists were trying to capture him to treat a trapping wound to his foot. Plans are to release this pack to the Idaho wilds in late fall or early winter. Regarding the accidental death, the USFWS reports:

"The Bass Creek alpha male was accidentally killed on June 28 while being restrained to doctor a trap related injury. A "catch pole", used to restrain the male, jammed and wouldn't release. A catch pole is a long metal pole with a cable running through it and a loop on the end. Catch poles are used by biologists, zoo keepers, animal wardens and other animal handlers to subdue animals for a variety of reasons. The loop is placed around the neck of the animal and pulled tight to control the animal's movements. The loop is loosened by pulling out on a knob at the end of the pole. In this incident the knob would not release the loop. The biologists scrambled to find something to cut the cable but by the time they found a tool to do the job, the male had quit breathing. They removed the loop and administered CPR but it didn't work. We try to reduce the possibility of an animal being injured or dying when handled but there are always the unforeseen circumstances. All catch poles are being cleaned and checked or refurbished to ensure this doesn't happen again. We will also have a pair of bolt cutters handy when using a catch pole in case it does jam."