Headline News

Earthjustice on behalf of all conservation groups involved filed a lawsuit in the district court of Missoula, Montana on June 2, 2009.  The lawsuit challenges KEN SALAZAR, Secretary of the Interior; ROWAN GOULD, Acting U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director;and UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE in regards to their decision to delist the Norther Rockies Gray Wolf from the Endangered Species List.     
You may read the complaint in pdf form by clicking here.

Alaska

Two incidents involving what park officials believe to be same wolf on Denali Park Road last weekend have biologists at Denali National Park and Preserve concerned the wolf is too bold for its own good.  In both instances, which occurred within a two-mile stretch between Mile 53 and Mile 55, the wolf approached a cyclist or group of cyclists who ended up taking refuge in the van of a park interpreter who happened to be nearby. The wolf approached the abandoned bikes to investigate. The animal chewed on the handlebars of one bike and punctured a Gatorade bottle on another bike. If the wolf continues its bold behavior despite the hazing, park officials would consider re-locating the animal to a more remote part of the 6-million-acre park and preserve 130 miles south of Fairbanks.  "As long as it hasn’t shown any aggression at all, we’d be hesitant to kill it," Meiers, the Park’s Head Wolf Biologist said.

Arizona

AF521 or Estrella is an endangered Mexican wolf whose prolific breeding made her the star Of the Mexican Gray Wolf Reintroduction program.  After 12 years, the leader of the pack has been replaced by her own daughter. Known to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as Alpha Female 521 and formerly named Estrella when she lived at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the wolf now runs alone in Eastern Arizona's high country.  From radio signals emitted from her collar, researchers know AF521 isn't with the rest of the so-called Bluestem Pack and she's not about to whelp another litter of pups. This is the time of year the lead female of a pack digs a den, and if so, her radio collar signals would be coming from one location.  Instead, those nearly stationary signals appear to be coming from a daughter AF521 gave birth to in 2006.

Minnesota

A radio-collared wild Wolf has been visiting an east Ely neighborhood.  It appears that improper disposal of trash at an apartment complex is the reason.   The International Wolf Center was called along with the DNR.  Pictures were taken of the Wolf by Wolf center staff and a resident.  The Wolf appears leery of humans and the DNR both the center and DNR suggest negative conditioning as well as proper disposal of trash. 

Montana

Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission is now considering a hunting quota on the Wolf.  The first numbers that were suggested ranged from 26 to 207.  The range that is now being considered will be from 0 to 165.  They will gather public comment before their next meeting in July. Public comment lasted only briefly at their last meeting with the majority pushing the commission to act conservatively when building the season's framework.

Oregon

A Hillsboro man says he fired one shot from his .357 revolver at a wolf that advanced on him and his dog Friday evening on a forested property his son owns near Black Mountain.  The man, Dennis Whalon, 58, said he doesn’t know if he hit the animal. It was about 30 feet away, and slightly uphill, when he fired the shot.  He said he didn’t find any blood, although he followed the animal’s tracks for hundreds of feet.  He had just gotten out of his pickup, intending to take a walk around the 40-acre property, when he saw “the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen in my life.”   So he shot at it. Wolves in Northeastern Oregon are protected under Oregon’s endangered species law. It is legal for a person to shoot and kill a wolf, but only, according to Oregon law, if doing so “is necessary to avoid imminent grave injury to a person.”

The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife will be using fees from hunting and fishing licenses to help ranchers deal with Wolves under a bill that has moved to the Senate Floor. House Bill 3089 changes the status of the wolf from a non-game species to a game mammal. The change opens a funding source for wolf management currently off-limits.

Washington

The Seattle Times reports that anxiety grows as Wolves rebound in Methow Valley.  There is as far as we know; only one Wolf pack in the Methow Valley, yet the death of a rancher’s cow has rattled that regions cattlemen. Another cattleman who usually runs his cattle on public land had to temporarily find a new place to run them because wolves were living among the sage and pines where they usually graze. A spokesman for the US Fish & Wildlife says there was nothing to suggest that a Wolf had killed the cow.  The rancher could again let his cattle roam, provided he made a few relatively simple changes such as not disturbing wolf sites, quickly removing sick or injured cattle and shifting his grazing season by a few weeks.  Word of both of these incidents spread quickly throughout the valley and now there is talk of how to protect their livestock and some ranchers have even suggested poison.  A spokesman for the US Fish & Wildlife says there was nothing to suggest that a Wolf had killed the cow.  The rancher could again let his cattle roam, provided he made a few relatively simple changes such as not disturbing wolf sites, quickly removing sick or injured cattle and shifting his grazing season by a few weeks.

Here is a photo from the US Fish & Wildlife of a Methow Valley Wolf taken by remote camera.  Wolves from this pack have already been killed by poachers, see previous article on our Wolf forum.

Wisconsin

A preliminary report indicates that the States Gray Wolf population has jumped 26% in a year. After two years of stability, wolf numbers have increased to 630 to 680 animals - the largest overwinter population since wolves began returning to the state in the 1970s.
The preliminary figures - derived from winter tracking surveys - compare with 540 wolves in 2008, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.  Adrian Wydeven of the DNR attributed the rise to relatively severe winter weather conditions that made it easier for wolves to chase down and kill deer.

Wyoming

Andrew Wetzler, director of the Wildlife Conservation Project of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the delisting threatens an Endangered Species Act provision that gives Wyoming ranchers the ability to shoot wolves in the act of harming or killing livestock. The Endangered Species Act says ranchers can shoot wolves harming or preying on livestock only if wolves are an “experimental, nonessential population,” meaning the endangered species’ population is geographically separate from any other population of the same species, said Wetzler and Jenny Harbine, a lawyer with Earthjustice. “It’s clear that the Wyoming wolves no longer qualify for that status,” Wetzler said. “They’re obviously not separate from the Montana population. I think Wyoming is going to lose its ‘experimental, nonessential population’ status.”

Wyoming filed its lawsuit in federal court in Cheyenne. The state is challenging the federal decision to leave Wyoming wolves on the endangered species list while removing them from the States of Montana and Idaho.

Yellowstone

A Wolf that had chased people on bicycles and motorcycles on several occasions was shot and killed by Yellowstone personnel on May 19th.   They had been looking for the Wolf to kill since May 7th.  According to Ed Bangs, the Wolf was following a woman that was on a bike.  She flagged down a truck for a ride.  An empty oil can rolled out of the truck and the Wolf ran off with it. Doug Smith, Yellowstone wolf project leader, said the park is interested in coexisting with wolves, but when wolves become habituated to people, human safety is paramount.  “When they cross a line of human safety, we get rid of the wolf,” he said, adding the wolf likely has received human food. “In the Old Faithful situation, that wolf has clearly crossed the line. I think it is a curious young animal that means no harm, but we can’t take the risk that it will hurt people.” Bangs agreed with Doug Smith that nearly all problems with Wolves and people stem from human food.  This is the first time such measures were taken with a Wolf in the Park.

One of our forum members found a wonderful video of Wolf watching and of course the Wolves at Yellowstone.  If you do go there, please do not feed the Wolves.  Their life depends on it.

China

Wolves were hunted to near extinction in China under communist leader Mao Zedongs rule.  It was an ideological effort to increase agricultural and livestock production.  Wolves are now protected there.  Herders blame this protection for the loss of their livestock and are calling for a hunt to be reinstated. But wolf expert Gao Zhongxin said the opposite is likely true. Wolves are attacking livestock because environmental degradation, expanding desertification, and human encroachment have reduced their natural prey, said Gao, who has studied the issue for China's Northeast Forestry Institute. "The number of wolves has probably stabilized but desertification and degeneration of the grassland is increasingly serious and a new threat to the wolves."

Sweden

The Swedish wolf population may not be greater than today. The government now proposes a cap of 210 wolves. It is the first time in over 40 years that the wolf population growth stopped deliberately. The bill means that licensed hunting of wolves will be introduced possibly by next winter.