From the Duluth News-Tribune in Minnesota:
DULUTH — The Biden administration this week filed a placeholder to appeal the February court order restoring federal protections for wolves across much of the U.S., including in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
The administration filed a notice of appeal to a federal judge’s order in February restoring endangered species protections for gray wolves that were removed under the Trump administration late in 2020.
From the Bellevue Reporter in Washington:
Washington’s wolf population continues to show growth for the 13th consecutive year, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
The department published its annual Washington wolf population report on April 9, which shows a 16% increase in the state’s wolf population in 2021 from the previous count in 2020.
From WyoFile.com:
A recent spate of wolf killings just outside of Yellowstone National Park has altered fundamental aspects of the canines’ behavior, and threatened the foundations of one of the most storied wildlife research efforts in American history, according to park scientists.
Twice in recent months Yellowstone National Park senior wildlife biologist Doug Smith and his team of researchers have observed highly unusual mating behavior.
From The American Prospect:
In the summer of 2014, two young gray wolves in eastern Oregon dispersed from their natal packs—one from the Snake River Pack and the other from the Minam Pack—and paired up. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) had already radio-collared both and tracked them as they traversed the Eagle Cap Wilderness in the northeastern corner of the state.
That year, Oregon had 81 known wolves. While the state was seeing the population rebound after being extirpated in the mid-1940s, that number was far less than the estimated 1,450 wolves that the mountain wilderness could support. The following year, the wolf pair produced two pups that survived. The Catherine Pack grew over the years as eight more pups survived—until last winter.
From The Washington Post:
Six critically endangered red wolves were introduced into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in coastal North Carolina.
But unlike other wolves, no one brought these new canines to the Outer Banks area as part of a federal program to recover a dying species. For the first time in six years, these red wolves were born there.
From North Carolina State University:
A kennel taking up much of the small exam room at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine holds the patient as technicians, anesthetists, doctors and students crowd around, some sitting on the floor, waiting for the red wolf to wake.
The injured animal, one of fewer than 20 of the world’s most critically endangered canid species living in the wild, has just had X-rays on his hind legs to determine what damage a run-in with a trap might have done. The ankle isn’t broken, but it’s unstable, so surgery to insert a plate is scheduled for the next morning.
From the Oregon Capital Chronicle:
More wolves were killed by humans during 2021 than any year since 2009, when wolves re-established themselves in the state, according to the latest Annual Wolf Report from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Oregon’s known wolf population grew by just two in 2021, from 173 in 2020 to 175. That’s the lowest annual growth rate in 13 years, according to the nonprofit conservation group Oregon Wild.
From the Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota:
ISLE ROYALE, Mich. — It’s long been assumed that wolves will prey upon the easiest meals out there, including the sick, the very young and the old among the deer or moose they live with.
Now, a new study by Isle Royale researchers from Michigan Technological University has documented that assumption as fact, and found that wolves play a key role in keeping moose populations healthy on the big Lake Superior island.
From the Los Altos Town Crier in California:
Not everyone is given the nickname “Energizer Bunny,” but that’s how Los Altos native Cameron Ho was characterized for his work ethic in research by his former university professor.
The 23-year-old – who graduated from the University of Washington in 2021 – was awarded the $10,000 Dr. L. David Mech Fellowship from the International Wolf Center in January for his research on gray wolves’ impact on scavengers in Yellowstone National Park.
From KCBY.com in Oregon:
EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon reported 26 wild wolf deaths in 2021, up from 10 in 2020.
The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife said 21 of the 26 deaths were human-caused, due to poaching, collisions with vehicles, or lethal control measures imposed by the state in response to wolves preying on livestock.
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