From Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Each year, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) submits a report to the federal government for Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 6 activities. This document details the results of its annual gray wolf (Canis lupus) population survey and summarizes wolf recovery and management activities from the previous year.
Washington’s wolf population was virtually eliminated in the 1930s but has rebounded since 2008, when a resident pack was documented in Okanogan County. Since then, the number of wolves has increased to a minimum of 260 wolves reported in 2023. Packs range across public and private land in Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties in the northeast corner of the state and Asotin, Garfield, Columbia, and Walla Walla counties in southeast Washington, and increasing numbers are present in Okanogan, Chelan, and Kittitas counties in the Northern Cascades Recovery area. Although the first pack to recolonize the South Cascades and Northwest Coast recovery region only had one wolf during the year end counts in 2023, we have observed multiple collared wolves cross I-90 in the last year, which likely means it is only a matter of time before new packs begin to establish in that recovery region.
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One of Colorado’s released wolves found dead in Larimer County
From The Coloradoan:
One of Colorado’s 10 released wolves has been found dead in Larimer County.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the Coloradoan on April 23 it was made aware of the deceased gray wolf April 18 and determined it was one of the wolves captured in Oregon and released in Grand or Summit counties in late December as part of the state’s reintroduction program.
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CPW Confirms Wolf Predations
From Tri-State Livestock News:
Four yearling cattle have been killed by wolves in Grand and Jackson counties according to confirmation given to the producer by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The four yearlings, weighing about 600 pounds, all came from the same ranch with three killed Monday night or Tuesday morning and a fourth on Wednesday.
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Yellowstone’s Wolves: A Debate Over Their Role in the Park’s Ecosystem
From New York Times:
In 1995, 14 wolves were delivered by truck and sled to the heart of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, where the animal had long been absent. Others followed.
Since then, a story has grown up, based on early research, that as the wolves increased in number, they hunted the park’s elk herds, significantly reducing them by about half from 17,000.
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Large study shows caribou herds in Alberta, B.C., growing from wolf culls, cow pens
From City News Everywhere:
Fresh research suggests western Canada’s once-dwindling caribou numbers are finally growing.
But the same paper concludes the biggest reason for the rebound is the slaughter of hundreds of wolves, a policy that will likely have to go on for decades.
“If we don’t shoot wolves, given the state of the habitat that industry and government have allowed, we will lose caribou,” said Clayton Lamb, one of 34 co-authors of a newly published study in the journal Ecological Applications.
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Axel, ambassador wolf at the International Wolf Center, euthanized
Yellowstone Wolves Kill Elk, Drag Carcass onto High School Football Field
From Outdoor Life:
Living in a gateway town to Yellowstone National Park comes with the usual perks and challenges, from abundant wildlife to summers flooded with tourists. But a new spectacle arose on April 12 for Gardiner Public School students and faculty when they discovered that a pack of wolves had killed a cow elk, dragged the carcass onto the GHS football field, and eaten part of it right there — leaving behind a mess of blood, meat, and hide.
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Washington Gray Wolf Conservation and Management 2023 Annual Report
From Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Each year, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) submits a report to the federal government for Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 6 activities. This document details the results of its annual gray wolf (Canis lupus) population survey and summarizes wolf recovery and management activities from the previous year.
Washington’s wolf population was virtually eliminated in the 1930s but has rebounded since 2008, when a resident pack was documented in Okanogan County. Since then, the number of wolves has increased to a minimum of 260 wolves reported in 2023. Packs range across public and private land in Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties in the northeast corner of the state and Asotin, Garfield, Columbia, and Walla Walla counties in southeast Washington, and increasing numbers are present in Okanogan, Chelan, and Kittitas counties in the Northern Cascades Recovery area. Although the first pack to recolonize the South Cascades and Northwest Coast recovery region only had one wolf during the year end counts in 2023, we have observed multiple collared wolves cross I-90 in the last year, which likely means it is only a matter of time before new packs begin to establish in that recovery region.
Click here for the full story.
Wolf from Great Lakes population confirmed in Colorado
From Summit Daily:
A rancher in Elbert County, Colorado, contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife after discovering a dead wolf-like animal in a legal coyote trap on April 3 on a ranch in eastern Colorado. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that this animal is a gray wolf from the Great Lakes wolf population. This is not a wolf from the 10 recently released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in December 2023.
As a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act, the service is investigating this incident and is working in coordination with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. As an open and active investigation, no additional details are available at this time.
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Rage over a Wyoming wolf’s torment persists. But will it change anything?
From
RIVERTON, Wyo. — From her home in the South Carolina countryside town of Six Mile, Lorraine Finazzo typically spends her weekdays managing construction projects for a New York City real estate developer.
Because of an incident involving a Wyoming wolf over 1,500 miles away, her productivity has waned of late.
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Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
From The Minnesota Daily:
Last January, the University of Minnesota’s Voyageurs Wolf Project posted to its Facebook about the amount of tagged wolves illegally killed in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, located near the Canadian border in Minnesota.
According to the post, 37% of wolves with collars or ear tags killed by people are poached. If wolves killed for preying on livestock are removed that number inflates to 54%.
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