by RALPH MAUGHAN
The rare big freeze probably did not help struggling Isle Royale wolf population-
Everyone knows that Lake Superior froze hard this year, providing an increasingly rare opportunity for the inbred wolves on Isle Royale to gain fresh recruits from the mainland. All of the the present wolf pack is the product of wolves that wandered across the frozen lake in the 1940s to reach and then populate Isle Royale in the lake. The wolves thrived because they found an overabundant moose population, which itself had reached the island about ten years earlier.
Over the many years since the wolf population has become increasing, desperately, inbred. Lake Superior rarely freezes anymore, thus cutting off potential supply of new wolves.
This winter was far different. All the Great Lakes froze and there was a golden opportunity for wolves to cross once again from the mainland to the island, especially because now there are more wolves on the mainland than there used to be. It is possible that wolves did cross, but they or it has not been detected. What was detected, however, was a wolf leaving. A pack member, a female nicknamed “Isabel,” left the island and migrated to Minnesota where she was shot and killed by a person with a pellet gun on an Indian reservation.
Nine wolves remain on the island. The Park Service is still looking for immigrants from this winter. None have been seen, but a confirmation could take many months if it happened. Dr. Rolf Peterson and his fellow wolf researcher Professor John Vucetich are hopeful. They also have indicated that the recovery of the dead emigrant wolf will provide useful research material.