Biologists Keep Watch Over Wolves

Federal biologists have taken on the air of prospective grandparents in their surveillance of the wolves that were released in Yellowstone National Park.

Their fondest hope now is that one of the females is pregnant.

They watch intently for any sign that any of the three packs is digging and hovering around a den.

One pack has spent six days along a stretch of the Lamar River in the park’s northeast corner, but Yellowstone biologist Mike Phillips said that’s too soon to draw conclusions.

“Their movements have been very restricted, not unlike what we would expect to see around a den,” Phillips said. Still, he said, “six days in the life of a wolf is not a long period of time.”

The three packs formed from 14 transplanted Canadian wolves that were released last month under a federal wolf recovery plan. They had been held in pens in the Lamar Valley about nine weeks to condition them to the park.

The other two packs have continued prowling, and one group of five wolves, which had been penned along Soda Butte Creek, was outside the park near Cooke City on Friday.

Friday’s tracking flight, the first since the early part of last week because of weather, did not spot the third pack. They were last seen along Soda Butte Creek, east of the pen on Rose Creek where they had been held, said Yellowstone spokeswoman Cheryl Matthews.

While the wolves seem to have been exploring throughout the Lamar Valley, Phillips said he would expect during the next two to four weeks to see signs they are beginning to set up territories.

Prey is so abundant in Yellowstone, Phillips said, that park wolves need not go far to find food, so they may stake territories much smaller than wolves would elsewhere.