From The Guardian:
In the pre-dawn darkness of Sierra de la Culebra, Zamora, Spain, a sudden howl pierces the cold. More join in, until the baying chorus echoes all around. As the sky begins to lighten, their shapes emerge: first the alpha male, and then the rest of the wolf pack, appearing in the twilight where light and darkness merge.
In Europe, this large carnivore was hunted for centuries and almost exterminated, surviving only in inaccessible or sparsely populated areas. Now, thanks to changing attitudes and increased protection, Europe’s wolf population is slowly recovering, and the apex predators are gradually returning to their former territories.
Click here for the full story.
FWP accepting public comment on wolf conservation plan
From NBC Montana:
MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks are seeking public comment on the 2023 Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.
The plan will incorporate 20 years of wolf-related research for long-term management and conservation of wolves across Montana.
The deadline to comment is Dec. 19 at 5 p.m. and you can submit a comment here.
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Wolf report highlights growing numbers and continued cattle kills
From Payson Roundup:
The nearly 20-year effort to return Mexican gray wolves to the wild has struggled, thanks to fierce debates, lawsuits, poaching, genetic bottlenecks and high death rates among the reintroduced wolves, often due to hunters, federal trappers, poachers, cars and other human causes.
However, the year-end census in 2022 put the wolf numbers at 242, up 23% over the same time in 2021, including 105 in Arizona’s White Mountains and another 137 in neighboring New Mexico. The 59 established packs included 19 in Arizona and 40 in New Mexico.
Living anywhere near humans definitely remains hard on wolves.
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Wolves to return to Colorado
From the Mountain Mail:
Ten gray wolves will be making the long journey from Oregon to Colorado this year as part of the wolf reintroduction effort.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced in a press releaseOct. 6 a one-year agreement that detailed the sourcing of wolves from Oregon to be brought to the Western Slope.
The relocation of the wolves comes after the 2020 vote to reintroduce wolves into Colorado by the end of 2023.
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Saving the elusive and endangered Ethiopian wolf
From Geographical:
As the first rays of morning light streak across the frozen gorse and heather, and in the heavens, 100,000 stars fade from view, a sudden movement catches my eye. A large creature with a reputation as dark as the moorland night moves with unnerving speed and silence over this bleak, high-altitude landscape. Pausing for just a second, it turns its head toward me and I catch a fleeting glimpse of sharp ears, hard eyes, and a bushy tail dipped in black, and then the ghost of the highlands turns and continues its silent race against the rising daylight. My encounter with a wolf is over.
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Conservationists fearful of what Three Sisters developments mean for wildlife
From Rocky Mountain Outlook:
BANFF – Twenty-five years ago, Canmore wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer embarked on an epic 3,400-kilometre journey from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to Watson Lake in the Yukon, following the path of wide-ranging species like wolves and grizzly bears.
Taking a break from his job at Parks Canada, Heuer plotted the wildest route he could, hiking, skiing and paddling between 1998 and 2000 to find out how realistic Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Conservation Initiative’s grand vision of a connected continental corridor was on the ground.
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‘I got to know the wolf’: how Spain’s shepherds are learning to live with their old enemy
From The Guardian:
In the pre-dawn darkness of Sierra de la Culebra, Zamora, Spain, a sudden howl pierces the cold. More join in, until the baying chorus echoes all around. As the sky begins to lighten, their shapes emerge: first the alpha male, and then the rest of the wolf pack, appearing in the twilight where light and darkness merge.
In Europe, this large carnivore was hunted for centuries and almost exterminated, surviving only in inaccessible or sparsely populated areas. Now, thanks to changing attitudes and increased protection, Europe’s wolf population is slowly recovering, and the apex predators are gradually returning to their former territories.
Click here for the full story.
Here are your stories about seeing wolves and mountain lions in Maine
From the Piscataquis Observer:
A video from northern Maine submitted to the BDN of a probable male wolf and four of his pups stirred up some discussion.
The Maine Wolf Coalition has submitted photographic evidence of individual animals that could be wolves, but biologists consistently say there are no breeding wolf populations in the state.
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New wolf exhibit opens at High Desert Museum this weekend
From Central Oregon Daily News:
A new exhibit showcasing wolves opens Saturday at the High Desert Museum.
“Wolves: Photography by Ronan Donovan” gives visitors a close-up view of gray wolves through the lens of a National Geographic explorer and photographer, and provides an inside look at the daily lives of the wild canines.
“You know what are they like on a day-to-day basis? How do they hunt and how do they live together and family units? How do they play? So those are two major factors in the exhibit, both the history of eradication and efforts to bring them back from extinction. And then also, what is it like to be a wolf? You know what is it like to live in Yellowstone in a wolf pack,” said Hayley Brazier, Donald M. Kerr Curator at the museum.
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Wisconsin Senate passes Republican bill to force setting a wolf hunt goal
From AP:
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Senate passed a Republican-backed bill Tuesday that would force state wildlife managers to set a firm numeric goal for the state’s wolf population.
The proposal, which next heads to the Assembly, comes after the Department of Natural Resources did not set a hard cap on the state’s wolf population in its new management plan, but said the population should be around 1,000.
The state has operated since 1999 under a wolf management plan that limits the statewide population at 350 animals. The new plan calls for the DNR to work with advisory committees to monitor local populations and decide whether to reduce them, maintain them or allow them to grow.
Sen. Felzkowski: Casts votes on special session, government waste and wolves
From WisPolitics:
Madison, WI – On Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Senate convened for Regular Session and the Governor’s Special Session on Workforce Development.
During the Governor’s Special Session, Republicans in the Legislature – the lawmaking body of government – took up an amended version of the Governor’s proposal. This bill, as passed, includes investments in childcare, occupational licensing reforms, welfare reform, worker training grants, and a $2 billion low- and middle-class income tax cut for individuals making more than $27,630.
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