If our deep freeze creates an Isle Royale ice bridge, will wolves use it again?

From MLive.com:

ISLE ROYALE, MI – During deeply cold winters, wolves have been using ice bridges to make Lake Superior crossings between Michigan’s Isle Royale and the nearby mainland in Minnesota and Canada for decades, research has shown.

Some big alpha males have ventured onto the island archipelago and stayed – adding a vital infusion of new DNA when faltering wolf packs needed it the most. Others have come to sniff around, check out the canine dating and mating scene, then trot back to their mainland home.

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Wolves of Lower Saxony: Citizen Science Delivers Key Data as Debates Heat Up

From LuxuriousMagazine.com:

In the misty forests of Lower Saxony, a band of everyday explorers – doctors, teachers, retirees – trudged through rain-soaked trails, eyes peeled for elusive wolf scat. Their 2025 efforts with Biosphere Expeditions yielded high-quality samples, likely accounting for half the state’s annual haul, proving that citizen science can thrive where controversy rages.

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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.

From SLTrib.com:

In a rural stretch of southwestern Cache County, state officials killed three wolves earlier this month after the animals were spotted near livestock, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources confirmed Tuesday.

The wolves were shot Jan. 9 by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said DWR spokesperson Faith Jolley, a move allowed because the animals were found in a small corner of northeastern Utah exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

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The Mutant Wolves of Chernobyl Have Evolved to Survive Cancer

From PopularMechanics.com:

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) has quickly become a 1,000 square-mile science experiment, as experts use the highly irradiated zone as a chance to understand animal biology placed under those extreme conditions.

Biologists from Princeton University studied wolves in the CEZ for a decade and found that they’re thriving compared to neighboring wolf packs, likely due to reduced human contact and genetic mutations that protect again cancer.

The biologists are working with other cancer experts to see if these particular mutations could have therapeutic uses for humans.

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Mexican wolf protections are at risk as delisting bills move forward

From SourceNM.com:

Two bills that aim to strip the Mexican gray wolf of its federal endangered species protections are now snaking their way through the federal lawmaking process.

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Cougars Are Learning to Coexist With Wolves in Yellowstone by Changing Their Diet

From DiscoverMagazine.com:

When wolves and cougars cross paths, it’s rarely a friendly encounter. But as these two apex predators increasingly share territory across the western United States, a new study suggests cougars may be finding clever ways to avoid conflict by changing what’s on their menu.

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Poacher kills ‘rising star’ wolf from Yellowstone National Park’s most viewed pack

From SFGate.com:

A gray wolf was illegally shot and killed just north of Yellowstone National Park last month. According to wolf advocates, wildlife watchers and guides, the wolf mostly lived inside the park and was born into the Junction Butte pack, arguably the world’s most famous wolf pack.

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Wolf pack forces Italian airport to close: How this region is struggling with coexistence

From EuroNews.com:

In early January, a video taken in a residential street of the northern Italian city of Pesaro went viral. Shot from inside a car, it shows a wolf running past a few metres away, the lights of a bar just behind, and disappearing down a side road.

In recent weeks, there have been dozens of sightings like these in urban areas of the Romagna region, including the cities of Rimini and Cesena.

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National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Says Legislation to Delist the Mexican Wolf Advances, Offering Long-Overdue Relief to Cattle Producers

From GoldRushCam.com:

January 25, 2026 – WASHINGTON – On Thursday, the House Natural Resources Committee advanced the Enhancing Safety for Animals Act of 2025 (H.R. 4255) with bipartisan support. The bill would remove federal ESA protections for the Mexican wolf, restoring commonsense wildlife management authority and providing much-needed relief to cattle producers and rural communities across the Southwest.

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Question of survival: 11 of 25 [Colorado] reintroduced gray wolves now dead

From GJSentinel.com:

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is cautioning the public against misinterpreting the number of wolf deaths since the state’s reintroduction program began, “especially over such a short time period and with such a small sample size,” the agency said.

This comes after an 11th gray wolf of the initial 25 brought to Colorado died, bringing the total number of collared wolves in the state to 19, after the May killing of one wolf born to the Copper Creek pack and the presence of two that were in the state prior to relocation starting.

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