From Bigfoot99 in Colorado:
Wolves are again active on ranches in Northern Colorado frustrating ranchers there. After several weeks passed with no reported sightings or livestock depredations, female wolf 1084 and her pack have reportedly been marauding livestock herds near Walden.
Rancher Don Gittleson, who lost three cows and a dog to the pack since before Christmas, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that he lost two more calves last month. However, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has not confirmed either calf was killed by wolves, although one was dragged underneath a fence line.
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Endangered red wolf found shot in Eastern NC. Feds now offering a reward in the case
From The News & Observer in North Carolina:
Federal officials are trying to determine who shot and killed an endangered red wolf in Tyrrell County this spring. The wolf was found in a muddy field south of Newlands Road on April 15, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It had been shot in the spine and collapsed in the mud, some of which was found in its lungs.
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Fish and Wildlife Service releases draft recommended decision for Mexican wolves
From NMPoliticalReport.com:
A draft recommended decision in the Mexican gray wolf recovery plan would eliminate the population cap and temporarily restrict when a wolf can be killed, but environmental advocates say it still falls short of the reforms needed to ensure genetic diversity.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the final supplemental environmental impact statement for the proposed revision for the Mexican gray wolf regulations on Friday along with the draft recommended decision. The final recommended decision will be issued after at least 30 days have passed.
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Wisconsin study: Second hunt could have driven wolves back to endangered
From apg-wi.com:
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a second wolf hunt last year would have risked Wisconsin’s wolf population dropping to undesirable levels that include the wolf possibly becoming endangered or extinct in Wisconsin.
The study published in the scientific journal PLOS One found it’s more likely than not that a well-regulated hunt would have required placing wolves on the state threatened and endangered species list. Researchers concluded a repeat of the February wolf hunt, during which hunters killed 218 wolves in less than three days, risked extirpation of wolves statewide except on tribal reservations.
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Minnesota: Female Wolf Illegally Shot And Killed Near Voyageurs National Park
From WCCO in Minnesota:
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. (WCCO) — Someone illegally shot and killed a wolf near Voyageurs National Park recently, according to a University of Minnesota group researching the animals.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project said on Facebook the female wolf was part of a breeding pair dubbed the Tamarack Pack. Her killing “ended the Tamarack Pack as we know it,” the group said, because the mate “became a lone wolf and has since wandered around our study area.”
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Colorado: Rubber ammo off table for wolf hazing after ruling
From The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colorado:
State agricultural producers no longer can use rubber ammunition to drive off gray wolves and protect livestock, as a result of a ruling that restored federal protections for the animals.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission last week amended the measures it allows to haze wolves, consistent with guidance it received from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after a federal judge’s ruling in February. The judge had vacated a Fish and Wildlife Service decision removing Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in states including Colorado, restoring those protections and returning authority over the animals to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Researchers trace the evolutionary origins of the Japanese wolf
From The Japan Times:
Little was known about the evolutionary history of the Japanese wolf, a small subspecies of the gray wolf that was once endemic to the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. New DNA research is changing that.
Worshiped for centuries as a divine messenger and protector of farmland, the creature is thought to have gone extinct as Japan marched toward industrialization in the 19th century. The last known specimen of the Japanese wolf was found in 1905.
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Frustration over wolves running high among Colorado ranchers
From Bigfoot99 in Colorado:
Wolves are again active on ranches in Northern Colorado frustrating ranchers there. After several weeks passed with no reported sightings or livestock depredations, female wolf 1084 and her pack have reportedly been marauding livestock herds near Walden.
Rancher Don Gittleson, who lost three cows and a dog to the pack since before Christmas, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that he lost two more calves last month. However, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has not confirmed either calf was killed by wolves, although one was dragged underneath a fence line.
Click here for the full story.
Study: Second wolf hunt would have driven Wisconsin’s wolf population to ‘undesirably low levels’
From Wisconsin Public Radio:
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a second wolf hunt last year would have risked Wisconsin’s wolf population dropping to undesirable levels that include the wolf possibly becoming endangered or extinct in Wisconsin.
The study published in the scientific journal PLOS One found it’s more likely than not that a well-regulated hunt would have required placing wolves on the state threatened and endangered species list. Researchers concluded a repeat of the February wolf hunt, during which hunters killed 218 wolves in less than three days, risked extirpation of wolves statewide except on tribal reservations.
Click here for the full story.
Wyoming’s Gray Wolves Fully Recovered Beyond Original Parameters. NPS Is Still Worried About Hunting Near Yellowstone
From Outdoor Life:
In the last week of April, Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department published the Wyoming Gray Wolf Monitoring and Management report. In that report, the department notes that the end of 2021 marked 20 consecutive years the state exceeded the numerical, distributional, and temporal recovery criteria establish for wolves by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The numbers in the report show there are at least 314 wolves in at least 40 packs throughout the state of Wyoming. In the Wolf Trophy Game Management Area, the report lists at least 161 wolves spread across 24 packs. In Yellowstone National Park, the report lists at least 97 wolves in eight packs.
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Wyoming Game and Fish: Wolves remain recovered species
From the Laramie Boomerang in Wyoming:
CODY — For two decades, Wyoming’s wolf population has been above the minimum population number to be considered a recovered species.
Wyoming Game and Fish recently released its annual report on the population of wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park.
According to the report, at the end of 2021, the gray wolf population in Wyoming remained above minimum recovery criteria, making 2021the 20th consecutive year Wyoming has exceeded the numerical, distributional and temporal recovery criteria established for wolves by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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