Wolves get around

Kevin Robinette with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Services in Spokane is involved with the department’s wolf recovery program. Kevin recently told me about a wolf pack that spends time in northern Washington and across the border in British Columbia and that one juvenile wolf has been radio collared. We also talked about two other wolf packs.

The first confirmed gray wolf pack since the 1930s called the “Lookout Pack” was made when two adult wolves were located and radio collared on July 18, 2008, in western Okanogan County. One of the wolves was later photographed in an area where six pups were located. Tissues and hair samples from the two wolves submitted for DNA indicated they came from the British Columbia-Alberta population.

The second wolf pack was confirmed when a 105-pound wolf, believed to be the alpha male pack leader, was captured and radio collared on July 31, 2009, in northeast Washington, Pend Oreille County, and it’s called the “Diamond Pack.” A sample of a male wolf’s hair for DNA indicated that it came from the northwestern Montana-southwestern Alberta population.

The Washington state wolf recovery information website is www.wdfw.wa.gov.

Larry Whitesitt

Fairfield