Death of Alpha Wolf Sparks Renewed Concern over Hunting

[fireweed]

Death of Alpha Wolf Sparks Renewed Concern over Hunting near Yellowstone

 (from National Park and Conservation Assoc)

 
By Sharon Mader, Senior Program Manager, Grand Teton
 
She was graceful and photogenic. She was a good mother. She was widely admired for her strength and beauty. But earlier this month, a hunter killed one of Yellowstone’s most famous canines just 15 miles outside the park boundary in Wyoming—the gray wolf that led the Lamar Canyon Pack in the northeast region of the park.
 
Researchers dubbed the alpha female 832F, though her admirers commonly refer to her as “06” for the year she was born. And she had many admirers—from wildlife photographers to weekend tourists to the researchers who tracked her movements with a sophisticated $4,000 collar.
 
Gray wolves have had a complicated history in Yellowstone. People eradicated them from the area in the 1920s and they were gone from the landscape for decades until the Park Service successfully reintroduced them in 1995. In the 17 years since, research in Yellowstone has shown the positive impact that wolves have had on the park’s plants and wildlife. But with the success of the wolf reintroduction, these iconic creatures have just recently been removed from the endangered species list and hunting has ensued in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. Although hunters cannot shoot the animals within Yellowstone’s boundaries, the wolves themselves do not recognize lines on a map and frequently roam outside the park.
 
It has been just two years since state officials removed gray wolves from the endangered list in Montana, and only two and a half months since the animals were delisted in Wyoming, but already this year’s hunting season has taken a significant toll on the wolf populations in national parks. To date, hunters have killed five wolves in Yellowstone that were wearing expensive scientific research collars to help researchers study their behavior. Hunters killed at least two other collared wolves at Grand Teton as well.
 
The loss of these “research wolves” takes a significant toll on ongoing Park Service efforts to monitor and study the wolf population in both Montana and Wyoming. In response, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission voted 4-1 to put certain areas around Yellowstone off-limits to wolf hunts in an effort to protect park wolves. While this is a temporary measure, we believe that the state commission should set in place a permanent area adjacent to Yellowstone and Grand Teton that will protect park wolves that occasionally leave the park’s boundaries.
 
We applaud the commissioners for this action. Wolves are a well-established part of the economic engine of Yellowstone, a place that draws millions of visitors each year who spend money in our towns and want to see a wide variety of wildlife, including the gray wolf. We also urge Wyoming, which opened up hunting to gray wolves just this past October, to exercise caution in hunting these animals.
 
Wyoming officials should use Montana’s situation as a lesson and create appropriate space around the park that is off-limits to hunting. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has the ability and duty to establish protected regions around parks in Wyoming and greatly limit the toll on wolves to ensure that both Grand Teton and Yellowstone wolf packs are better protected.
 
As for the rest of the Lamar Canyon Pack, their future is uncertain. The pack may end up splitting into smaller packs or breaking up altogether—though the animals’ behavior is difficult to predict. What’s certain is that NPCA and other wildlife enthusiasts and park lovers around the country will be watching and advocating for the safety of these iconic creatures.

[turkeyfeather]

Oh boy, sounds like someone just opened a big 'ol can of worms.

[bearmanric]

She will be Missed RIP. Rick

[Axle]

Oh boy, sounds like someone just opened a big 'ol can of worms.

Maybe there will be maggots instead of worms. Then again - the wolves are infested with different kinds of worms. The wolf huggers should hug her goodbye.....and kiss her goodbye.....

[hillbilli]

I like how the wolf killed 15 miles from Yellowstone was "one of 5 killed in Yellowstione Park"...

[Skyvalhunter]

Heck why not just expand the area around Yellowstone to include no wolf hunting. Those tree huggers would love it to include the whole US.

[lokidog]

Here's an idea, add an invisible fence receiver into those tracking collars and then put a wire around the park.  Keep them where they belong.

[Jingles]

Don't want the Yellowstone Pack killed? Keep them within the Yellowstone boundaries anything outside the boundaries is fair game

[NWBREW]

Here's an idea, add an invisible fence receiver into those tracking collars and then put a wire around the park. 

 

[turkeyfeather]

Don't want the Yellowstone Pack killed? Keep them within the Yellowstone boundaries anything outside the boundaries is fair game

 

[Wenatcheejay]

Maybe they could make a motion picture call it, "Killing The Alpha (Oh wait, can't say it.)"

[JimmyHoffa]

her admirers commonly refer to her as “06” for the year she was born

I would've called her "06" for a different reason.....

[Bean Counter]

Name, please: _______


I owe that hunter a beer.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Let them all get together and have a crying party  if they want wolves then they need to except the fact that they will be hunted and trapped to control the populations ...If we are lucky we can control the populations but we all know how fast a coyote population can populate and it will be interresting how this all plays out over the next couple of years ....

[asl20bball]

a "positive impact" on the park's wildlife/plants?  What the??? Last I checked yellowstone park went from 20k elk to less than 5k. Yellowstone is dying thanks to a disease we introduced into the park called the wolf.  This narrow minded approached from the pro-wolf folks is sickening. All they are about is the wolf...not any other animals.