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PrintHow Will the Wolf Survive
In Wyoming, Canis lupus is caught in a bureaucratic tug-of-war.
A collared wolf known as 587M, who some think was the alpha male of the Canyon Pack until another male, 712M, took over the dominant role.
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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK—Snow squeaks underfoot as five parka-clad wolf watchers stand in a row, their eyes glued to high-powered spotting scopes. Seasoned watchers, each has an insulated pad underfoot to fend off frostbite. Yet, the sub-zero January air still pricks at their exposed cheeks and noses, giving them a rosy hue. But the drama unfolding under an ice-blue sky chases away the chill.
“This is the mating season,” says Carol Rickman, peering through her tripod-mounted scope. “We’re really excited to see if we might see 302.”
Wolf 302 is a lothario nicknamed “Casanova.” In this 2.2-million-acre park, wolf watchers track the movements of wolves with the intensity of soap opera fans following the rise and fall of family dynasties.
“He has quite a reputation with the ladies, and he has already mated with one of these females here,” Rickman says.
Rickman wants to see whether Wolf 302 will mate with another female in this new Blacktail Deer Plateau Pack, forged last year from a rare union of members from two existing packs. Six males from the Druid Peak Pack, the park’s most famed wolf group, joined forces with four females from the Agate Creek Pack. Earlier, Wolf 302 played a pivotal role in helping the Druids regain dominance of the Lamar Valley after losing control of the elk-rich territory to rival packs.
An elder at the ripe age of eight, Wolf 302 leads this new group with a two-year-old Agate female. The pack roams widely across Yellowstone’s northern range. On this day, four gray and two black wolves are sharing a carcass on a slope of their namesake plateau.
Wolf battles are not limited to pack-on-pack brawls inside Yellowstone. Step outside the park, and there’s a skirmish over territory every bit as epic. The wrangling, playing out in courtrooms and legislative chambers, centers on how far outside Yellowstone and neighboring Grand Teton National Park wolves should be allowed to roam.
On one side, ranchers, worried about losing livestock to wolves, and some elk hunters, concerned about wolves depleting their favorite prey, want to limit the wolf’s range. On the other side, conservationists, touting the role of wolves in enhancing a natural ecosystem, envision a more expansive future for this edgy predator.
While the two camps have been caught in a legal stalemate, wild wolves have flourished. This comes as no surprise to University of Wyoming professor Matthew Kauffman, who leads the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Many endangered species confound scientists, who struggle to determine what is driving their decline.
Not so with wolves.
“With large carnivores, and the wolves are no exception, there’s no puzzle,” Kauffman says. “What limits their distribution is conflict with humans. [Wolves] will be there in whatever abundance we can tolerate.”
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Postscript--On Saturday, October 10, 2009, the beloved Wolf #302 was found dead south of Mammouth Hot Springs, apparently caused by an attack from members of another wolf pack. Wolf watchers Carol and Mark Rickman were there, along with wolf expert Rick McIntyre and other friends of Yellowstone wolves who happened to be in the park that day to say good-bye to the Park's "Romeo."