July 31, 2009 in Outdoors, City

Gray wolf collared in Pend Oreille County

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Courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife photo

A male gray wolf equipped with a radio collar is seen in this photo from the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

An adult male wolf was captured and outfitted with a satellite-tracking collar in northern Pend Oreille County Friday.

The collar will help state biologists monitor Washington’s second confirmed wolf pack, which has been named the “Diamond Pack.”

The 105-pound wolf is believed to be the pack’s alpha male. Two pups were also caught, outfitted with ear tags and released.

The wolves were caught in padded leg traps. State biologists had been monitoring the undisclosed area for several weeks, after motion-sensor cameras picked up the image of a lactating female.

Biologists don’t know large the pack is, said Kevin Robinette, a regional manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Spokane. Four pups, already coyote-sized, were on a recent picture taken by the motion-sensor camera.

A trapper from Idaho Fish and Game helped with Friday’s capture.

Last year, Washington’s first breeding pair of wolves since the 1930s was confirmed in western Okanogan County.

Four comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  ActivistCrone on August 01 at 9:43 p.m.

  What was it we failed to learn from the bungled handling and subsequent death of the last jaguar on American soil last year?

  Apparently everything because here we go again, managing a pristinely new and delicate population of a recovering species. We humans managed them (with guns, traps and poison) straight into near extinction. They were doing just fine until then. When, if ever, will we arrogant ‘managers’ of the earth simply admit our failure and stop. Every single ecosystem on this planet, including the planet, that we’ve taken upon ourselves to manage has suffered to some degree or other.

  Even releasing the exact location of this new population of wolves was shortsighted and without wisdom, as I believe we’ll see the unfortunate proof of soon enough.

  I hope I’m wrong.

• 

  TheCatCameBack on August 03 at 11:03 a.m.

  ActivistCrone, while some animals are incredibly sensitive to capture and collar, wolves actually are an extremely resilient animal. Collaring has been the standard study method for decades, and look how well collared wolves did in the West.

  Knowing where the wolves are living allows agencies to protect the appropriate habitat and help the populations thrive by restricting land uses. Our habitat protection laws are all based on where an animal is present, so we have to be able to document that or they aren’t protected enough.

  I agree that releasing too many specifics about wolf locations allows the bubbas of the world to more easily hunt them. But as we learned in Okanogan County last year when that guy shot more than one pup from the first pack, the locals already know where the wolves are without anyone printing it in the paper.

• 

  Baboo on August 03 at 6:44 p.m.

  I really wish we’d get tougher as a nation on the people who commit such horrible crimes as stated above against nature. when people know there are stiff penalties to pay, instead of the usual
  watered down fines and …’jail time”… of perhaps on the books of 2 yrs max… which they never receive…maybe the ‘bubbas’ will think twice when there’s the thought of their own butt in the sling!

• 

  TOOBAD2 on March 25 at 3:39 p.m.

  I THANK GOD THE ENVIRONMENTALIST DON’T WANT TO BRING BACK THE DINOSAURS. THAT WOULD MAKE JUST AS MUCH SENSE A BRING BACK THE WOLVES. THERE WERE REASONS THAT THEY WERE REMOVED. YOU WANT TO LIVE WITH THEM I’M SURE WE COULD FIND SOME FOR YOU.