Wolves

Yellowstone officials expressed displeasure at a Montana state plan to increase grey-wolf hunting that also rejects the idea of a no-hunting buffer near the Park.

Year by year the distribution of wolf packs in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem becomes larger and more dense. New packs spring up, or move, each year. Some packs disappear, in some cases because the wolves naturally die off or split, in other cases, such as the Moccasin Pack near Red Lodge, Montana, because they are eradicated by agreement of the relevant state …

Yellowstone National Park biologists suggest a drop in the wolf population is due to a return of distemper in the packs. Out of the 11 Yellowstone packs, three have no pups, with several more showing a reduced number. In addition, the adult mortality rate seems to be higher than normal, leading Doug Smith, Yellowstone’s lead wolf biologist, to suspect the …

[Friday July 19, 2008] As shoe dropping goes, the Rocky Mountain wolf story has more footwear than Imelda Marcos. On Friday, July 18, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction restoring the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains to the endangered species list. The western wolf was delisted by the federal government (Fish and Wildlife Service) in …

[Thursday April 10, 2008] At least ten wolves have been reportedly killed in Wyoming since the state took over wolf management responsibility March 28th. Four were killed by the U.S. Agriculture Department Wildlife Services in Sublette County, near Lander, Wyoming as they were marauding cattle in an enclosed area. All of the wolves killed were outside the state defined ‘trophy-game zone’, …

[Friday, March 21, 2008] Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials kill pack’s four wolves because of cattle predation. Moccasin Lake, located in the northern reaches of the Beartooth Mountains, about twenty miles west of Red Lodge, Montana has been home to the “Moccasin Lake Pack” for several years. The territory is close the national forest boundary and in a region with …

No other animal says northern wilderness like the gray wolf. The distant piercing howl of a wolf pack can send shivers up the spine of almost every vertebrate, including humans. In appearance and behavior wolves remind us of man’s best friend, the dog, as they should; dogs are descendants of wolves. However, in the wild, wolves are a far cry from the domestic dog. Wolves are surrounded by myths and legends, most of them dark, forbidding -- scary. Whether their frightening reputation fits the facts...that’s been a subject of controversy, probably since the dawn of human time.

The opportunity to see wolves is like so many other things: a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Wolf packs tend to follow the elk herds; elk herds move around during the year. During late fall, winter, and spring (roughly November through early June) the larger herds are in or near the major valleys: Lamar …

Like almost everything about wolf behavior, wolf attacks on humans are a matter of controversy. Movies and television routinely show people attacked by wolves, which leaves the impression that wolves are extremely dangerous. Then there is Kevin Costner doing the twist with ‘Two Socks’ in the movie Dances with Wolves. Many studies on wolf attacks have been done over the …

Seen as a circle of snarling, long-fanged killers closing in on the prey; or as a curious, dog-like face with fluffy white rimmed fur -- either way, wolves get our attention. Wolves are smart. They are persistent and fierce predators. They hunt in groups, as a pack. Pack hunting by wolves stimulates fear in the human imagination almost more than any other large predator, excepting the great cats (tigers, lions, cougars). Wherever wolves exist, they become the subject of mythology, and the present day is not excluded (think werewolf).  Wherever there are wolves, there are people who fear them, hate them, respect them, and venerate them. This is another way of expressing that wherever there are wolves and people, there is potential for conflict and controversy.