ABOVE THE GILA NATIONAL FOREST, N.M. — In a private plane soaring 26,000 feet over pine-swathed mountains, three tawny Mexican wolf pups slept. Their weight was less than three pounds each, their 10-day-old eyes still screwed shut. Their worth, as some of the newest members of a critically endangered species, was immeasurable.
The pups were protected by a soft pet carrier and kept toasty — 78 degrees, an attached thermometer indicated — by hand warmers wrapped in a towel. They were flanked by a veterinarian and a zookeeper, chaperones for this leg of a precisely choreographed operation.
Native American Tribes Sue to Stop Wisconsin’s Fall Wolf Hunt
From the Daily Beast:
Just weeks after wildlife activist groups sued to halt Wisconsin’s annual fall wolf hunt, six Native American tribes have served the state another suit. The Ojibwe tribes filed against the Department of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Board, arguing that the hunt violates treaty rights that entitle them to half of the wolf quota in territory they were forced to give the U.S. government in the nineteenth century. The DNR estimates Wisconsin’s wolf population hovers around 1,000. About 218 wolves were killed in four days during the annual hunting and trapping season in February—99 above the state quota.
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On Canada’s Remote Kaska Coast, Wolf Spotting Under the Northern Lights
From Conde Nast Traveler:
The wolf was not shy. She came silent and fast from behind, flanking our line of hikers. She circled to the front and stopped. She lifted her nose, narrowed her eyes against the wind, and studied our strange herd. What were we? Not caribou or moose, definitely not lemmings.
“Whoa, what a beauty,” my wife, Kim, murmured. “She must be 90 pounds. And not anxious in the least.”
Emergency alert at Cleveland zoo after wolf escapes enclosure
From The Independent in the UK:
A wolf briefly breached its habitat at an Ohio zoo, sending it into a lockdown, said authorities.
Identified as a female Mexican grey wolf, the canine was able to access a guest path of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo for five minutes at around 10.20am on Monday, forcing it into a lockdown.
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Yellowstone: There’s an Investigation Into the Killing of Wolf 1233
From sparklight.com:
Hunters killed a record 25 Yellowstone wolves last season, a figure that represents one-fifth of the park’s wolf population and is more than double the previous high of a decade ago.
As a deep dive at the Intercept explains, newly relaxed rules on hunters instituted by Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is a big reason. But the investigation by Ryan Devereaux focuses on one particular aspect of the count—allegations that some Yellowstone rangers improperly hunted wolves themselves or fed inside information about the animals’ whereabouts to hunters.
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Revised Montana wolf regs aim to limit Yellowstone-area kills
From Explore Big Sky in Montana:
The Montana Fish and Wildlife commission on Aug. 25 voted to reinstate a cap on the number of Yellowstone-area wolves that hunters and trappers can kill, abandoning an approach that allowed hunters and trappers to kill 21 wolves last season.
Most of the approximately 100 commenters speaking about wolf management at the Aug. 25 commission meeting expressed frustration with wolf hunting and trapping generally, or the prospect of hunting and trapping wolves that leave the northern border of Yellowstone National Park more specifically.
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Another wolf kill discovered in Lake County
From the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Oregon:
The carcass of a 500-pound, four-month-old calf was found in a 2,000-acre private land pasture in the Sycan Marsh area of Lake County on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which investigated the death that same day, the calf was found earlier Wednesday by a livestock owner. An investigation indicated the carcass was missing organs and muscle tissues on its ribs, hindquarters and front quarters.
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Minnesota wolves consuming bear bait left by hunters, researchers say
From KMSP in Minnesota:
(FOX 9) – Wolves in northern Minnesota are known to take advantage of the bear bait left by bear hunters, making up a large portion of their diets this time of year.
That’s according to a Twitter thread from the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which studies the summer ecology of wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem in Minnesota.
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Truck, plane, backpack: Inside the extreme effort to save Mexican wolves
From The Washington Post:
ABOVE THE GILA NATIONAL FOREST, N.M. — In a private plane soaring 26,000 feet over pine-swathed mountains, three tawny Mexican wolf pups slept. Their weight was less than three pounds each, their 10-day-old eyes still screwed shut. Their worth, as some of the newest members of a critically endangered species, was immeasurable.
The pups were protected by a soft pet carrier and kept toasty — 78 degrees, an attached thermometer indicated — by hand warmers wrapped in a towel. They were flanked by a veterinarian and a zookeeper, chaperones for this leg of a precisely choreographed operation.
Click here for the full story.
Cry wolf? Debate over presence of wolves in Northeast United States
From the Associated Press:
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Are wolves hunting and howling in the Northeast woods again, more than a century after they were rooted out of the region?
Advocates who think so say a recent DNA analysis shows a strapping canine shot by a coyote hunter in upstate New York last winter was actually a wolf. They believe there are other wolves in New York and New England, saying they could be crossing the frozen St. Lawrence River while heading south from Canada. And they want the government to protect them.
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Isle Royale wolf population surges after nearly dying off
From phys.org:
Isle Royale National Park’s gray wolf population has reached 28, a dramatic comeback after the species nearly disappeared from the Lake Superior island chain, researchers said Wednesday.
Health problems from inbreeding caused a die-off that left only two wolves a few years ago, leading park officials to authorize an airlift of mainland replacements. Wolves play a crucial role in balancing the island ecosystem by preying on moose, which browse heavily on balsam fir and other plants.
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