Female Wolf, 8 Pups To Be Released Biologists Kept Animals After Male Illegally Killed

The female wolf and eight pups that wildlife biologists rescued last spring were scheduled for release today into Yellowstone National Park.

Biologists will remove a panel from the wolves’ pen and leave the area, said park spokeswoman Marsha Karle.

“No one will stay to watch,” she said.

“We’ll let them go at their own pace. We don’t want to push them in any direction.”

The female’s mate was illegally shot to death when it and the female roamed outside the park close to Red Lodge, and the pups were born before the female could prepare a den.

Biologists moved them to a pen inside the park and provided food until the pups were old enough to have a better chance of survival.

They are now 23 weeks old and weigh about 50 pounds.

The elk, deer and bison carcasses that biologists have been providing may have attracted a large grizzly bear that has been hanging around the pen and is one factor in the timing of the wolves’ release.

“We’re concerned about human safety more than anything else,” Karle said.

The male and female adults constituted the Rose Creek pack, one of three formed by 14 Canadian wolves that were transplanted to Yellowstone to restore the predators to the area.

The eight pups escaped in July when high winds toppled trees onto the chainlink fencing.

Biologists recaptured five, and on Monday they found another one inside the pen.

On Monday, wolf specialists fitted collars on the six pups in the pen and vaccinated them against rabies and other diseases.

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