First Wolf Release Set For Central Idaho Canadian Wolves Could Be Transplanted Thursday

Canadian wolves trapped by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be released in both Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho on Thursday, federal officials announced Tuesday.

Sharon Rose, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said seven wolves will be released in Idaho’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, while Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle said at least six of the predators would be put in pens in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley.

“This is great news,” Karle said. “We’re excited. Let’s go for it.”

Earlier Tuesday, Rose had announced that seven of the 15 wolves captured by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would be sent to central Idaho for release on Thursday, while the Yellowstone release would occur soon after.

Rose and Mike Smith, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, said making sure most of the wolves to be released in Yellowstone are from the same pack was making it difficult to pinpoint a release date.

But Karle said trappers on Tuesday captured six wolves and biologists had determined that of the 15 wolves held, at least six were from the same pack.

“So we’ll get at least that one group of the six and there may be a couple more coming down here,” she said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service wants to release 15 wolves in both Idaho and Yellowstone this year as part of its $6.7 million project to restore to the region a species believed eradicated in the 1920s and 1930s.

The 15 to be released in Yellowstone will be held in pens for four to six weeks to give them time to get used to their surroundings. As a result, biologists want to be use most of the wolves are from the same pack so they get along better in the pens.

The wolves to be taken to Idaho are simply to be released following a brief ceremony.