Wolf Transplants Thriving Signs Of Denning Indicate Program Is A Success

Seventy years after they were systematically hunted out of existence, the birth of several spry wolf pups in active dens suggests Canadian wolves transferred to Yellowstone National Park are thriving.

“They’re doing just great and wolf reintroduction is done,” said Ed Bangs, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That’s good news for Canadian wilderness lovers: no more grey wolves will be captured and flown out of Alberta and British Columbia.

That’s bad news for ranchers like Vern Keller. He lost a sheep to a wolf last week and believes they should not have been reintroduced into the dense woods of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.

“They should never have been brought down here from Canada or brought back into Yellowstone Park,” Keller said Tuesday from his ranch in Fish Tail.

“Forcing them back in here is not natural.”

Restoring nature’s proper balance is exactly why Bangs had the wolves captured in Alberta and British Columbia beginning 18 months ago and flown to the northwestern United States.

“They were always here and they belonged here,” he said. “It was humans who hunted them down and got rid of them.”

Ten dollar rewards were handed out beginning early this century to anyone who would skin a wolf and bring in the pelt. The last one was killed in 1926.

Wolves were the only mammals missing from the natural order in the area, said Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle.

The elimination of the skilled predator meant an unnatural ballooning in the size of other species. The elk population soared from around 10,000 in the 1930s to about 40,000 last year, for instance. Many of the elk would have been killed by the wolves.

“We had to put the top predator back into the system,” said Bangs.

Fourteen wolves were brought to Yellowstone and central Idaho in January 1995. Another 17 were flown from British Columbia and taken to Yellowstone six months ago.

Those in Idaho were released directly into the wild and immediately began heading to Alberta before circling back after a week and settling in the state.

The Montana “soft-release” program saw the wolves held in pens after arriving here for six weeks and fed by Fish and Wildlife staff before being released into the wild.

They stayed put and late in April began denning - digging holes for shelter, suggesting they were building shelter for expectant mothers.

“There are up to 30 new pups on the ground, making for a total of up to 65 wolves,” said Mike Phillips, head of the wolf restoration project.

Six have died, including a pregnant adult female that was scalded to death in April after falling into a thermal pool near Old Faithful. Another was shot by federal officials after it repeatedly preyed on sheep. One was illegally shot in Idaho and another was killed by a mountain lion there.

One person was thrown in jail for six months and given a $10,000 fine for killing and skinning a wolf.

“We expected to lose more,” said Karle. “We figured on a mortality rate of 30 per cent. We’ve actually lost about 15 per cent.”

Ranchers wish they would disappear entirely - even though a fund has been set up to compensate them for any lost livestock.