Teton wolf died of natural causes
A mother wolf in the Teton Pack died of complications related to giving
birth earlier this spring even though her carcass was full of bite marks,
federal lab results showed.
Federal wolf biologist Mike Jimenez recovered the body of wolf No. 200 on
April 30 after her radio collar emitted a mortality signal. Her carcass
contained conflicting clues. She was lactating, which suggested she had
given birth. And she had multiple bite marks, indicating a possible
struggle within the wolf pack.
She was found about a half mile from the Teton Pack’s den site in Grand
Teton National Park. Biologists wondered how she met her end.
Results from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service forensics lab concluded that
the 6-year-old died from complications related to birthing pups and not
from a fight with other wolves.
“She had lots of punctures, but that’s not what killed her,” Jimenez said
Thursday.
What happened to her pups is unknown. The pups could have been stillborn
or died after birth, he said.
Lab results showed the mother wolf had infected mammary glands and would
have been unable to nurse the pups, he said. The lab could not determine
what caused the puncture wounds, whether it was wolves or another animal,
Jimenez said.
No. 200 originally came from Yellowstone National Park where she was born
on the southeast arm of Yellowstone Lake as a member of the Thorofare
pack, according to federal accounts. She dispersed from the Thorofare pack
in 1998, and along with two other wolves formed the Gros Ventre pack, one
of the first wolf packs in the Jackson area.
Biologists captured and placed a radio collar on her in 2000. Soon after
she was collared, she joined the Teton pack.
No. 200 was one of two wolf mothers in the Teton Pack. The other mother,
No. 228, successfully gave birth to a litter of six pups.