Feds kill last of original wolves
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (AP) — Federal officials have shot the last of the original Canadian gray wolves transplanted in Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s after the predator repeatedly killed young cattle.
The female wolf, known as No. 41, was shot less than two weeks after her sister, wolf No. 42, was killed in a battle with other wolves.
Authorities said wolf No. 41 had to be killed because she had been preying on calves in the Sunlight Basis area north of Cody.
“After that last (calf was killed) we decided, you know, that’s it,” said Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf recovery coordinator.
Wolf No. 41, her two sisters and their mother, were among the approximately 30 gray wolves that were captured in Canada and transplanted in 1995 and 1996 to the Yellowstone ecosystem, part of the federal government’s controversial effort to reintroduce the predator.
The four females joined a male and formed the Druid Peak pack in the Lamar Valley. The pack soon became the most observed group of wolves in the park.
Conflicts within the pack, particularly with 41’s often-violent sister, No. 40, eventually prompted No. 41 to leave the Druid pack behind. She scrambled east over the Absaroka Mountains, hooked up with a male from the Rose Creek pack, and formed a new pack in the Sunlight Basin in 1998.
No. 41 became the alpha female of the pack, which ranged in size from about eight to 12 wolves.
The pack began to run into trouble last year.
A severe outbreak of mange left several wolves with thinning coats, which can cause serious problems in winter. Meanwhile, the pack was found killing cattle in the area and causing problems for local ranchers.
Recently, No. 41 lost her place in that pack and began traveling with another wolf by themselves for several months, said Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf recovery coordinator.
No. 41 and the other wolf apparently killed a newborn calf on private land on Feb. 6 and were seen feeding on the carcass by wildlife managers monitoring the pack from the air.
Agents with U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service shot her last Thursday. Wildlife officials said she had a lame front foot and severe mange.
“She was in pretty poor condition,” Bangs said.
No. 41 is the latest of several wolves in the Sunlight Basin pack to die in recent months.
This summer, authorities killed two that were caught killing cattle on private land. Four others, including the longtime alpha male, died last fall. One of the deaths appears to be natural. The others are being investigated.