‘Good Wolf’ Roams Island Park Area

Sixteen months after ranchers and federal wildlife agents clashed over wolf reintroduction in eastern Idaho, a black wolf has turned up in the Island Park area, and nobody in cattle country seems all that concerned.

“This appears to be a pretty good wolf,” Targhee National Forest wildlife biologist Dan Delany said. “He’s been traveling for a long time and hasn’t gotten into any trouble.”

Biologists from Yellowstone National Park spotted the 120-pound, radio-collared animal during a routine monitoring flight last weekend about 13 miles northeast of Ashton near Hatchery Butte. It was 50 miles to the south on May 10.

It is one of the Canadian wolves transplanted to the Yellowstone area earlier this year in the second phase of the wolf reintroduction program. In April, its pregnant mate fell into a Yellowstone hot pool and died, prompting the male to head out on its own. Officials say it appears to be headed back into the park.