Last Wolf Pen Opened, But Residents Stay Put

The last of three pens holding wolves for release into Yellowstone National Park was cut open Monday, but the five animals inside stayed put.

Eight wolves, meanwhile, began to roam through the park after similar holes were cut late last week in the two pens where they were being held.

The holes were cut in all three pens after biologists determined that the wolves were avoiding the gates because of human activity near the entrances.

Since January, park rangers and biologists had been bringing game carcasses into the three pens to feed the wolves.

A total of 29 wolves were transported in January to central Idaho and Yellowstone as part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service effort to build up a population of 200 wolves in America’s northern Rockies.

Fifteen wolves taken to central Idaho were immediately released to the wild while the wolves taken to Yellowstone were held in 1-acre pens to allow them to get used to their new surroundings.

Last week, the nine wolves being held in two pens - six in one, three in the other - were initially reluctant to leave their pens.

On Monday, only one of those wolves remained in its pen, said park spokeswoman Elizabeth Kirkpatrick.