Soda Butte Pack - 1995The Soda Butte pack started out with five pack members when released in 1995. Thealpha male from this group #013 is believed to be the oldest wolf from the restoration effort. The alpha female #014, produced a litter of one pup in 1995. Unfortunately, two of the pack members, #011 a female, and #012 a male, both died in separate incidents south of the park in the winter of 1995, after dispersing from the pack. The four remaining pack members moved north and out of the park during the spring of 1996 and chose to den on private ranch land, where a litter of three pups were born. This caused considerable worry to the local ranching community, so the decision was made to capture the wolves and place them in an acclimation pen. Three of the four wolves from this pack and all three pups were captured and placed in a pen in the southern portion of Yellowstone in Aug 96. The were released in early Oct 96 and have since been located near that area. Wolf #015, a young male from the original Soda Butte pack, escaped capture by biologists and found the company of #027, the alpha female from the Nez Perce pack, who had denned not far from where the Soda Butte pack had denned. The decision to capture #015, #027 and her pups was made because depredation of sheep had been reported nearby and these wolves were the likely culprits. #015 was caught on 08 Jul 96 and was placed in an acclimation pen. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has temporarily halted capture attempts on #027 and her pups until such time that this pack maybe more accessible for capture.

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Pack Location: Southern area of Yellowstone.

Nez Perce Pack - 1995The Nez Perce pack, whose members originally included an alpha pair, three female yearlings and one male yearly, is perhaps the most difficult group to monitor since this spring. Immediately after release, all four females from the pack left the west central area, where they were kept for the ten week acclimation period, and traveled northeast outside of the park. Meanwhile the two males, numbers 028 and 029 traveled briefly together and then went separate ways. The alpha female, #027, then went on her own in search of a den site, while the three female yearlings dispersed to various areas northeast of Yellowstone. The alpha female is currently north of the park near Fishtail, Montana. Because #027 depredated on sheep, the US Fish and Wildlife Service tried unsuccessfully, to capture her and her five pups. It should be noted that there has not been a confirmed depredation from #027 since 17 Jul 96. The capture efforts have been temporarily halted, until such time when biologists may reinitiate capture attempts. Currently #028 is a long wolf, frequenting an area a few miles west of the northwest corner of Yellowstone. Because wolves #029 and #037 were frequenting private ranch land north of the park, biologists made the decision to capture these wolves and place them in an acclimation pen. They have since been joined in their pen by ten pups from the pack located in northern Montana called the Sawtooth pack. These ten pups were the result of what biologists speculate was the rather uncommon occurrence of a double litter. The US Fish and Wildlife Service captured these pups this fall because their pack mates were unfortunately killed after depredating on livestock. Although the restoration effort did not need additional wolves to assure success, Yellowstone wolf project biologists nonetheless made the decision to take in these remaining pups and add them to the program, instead of leaving them to die on their own. These twelve wolves will be released in Mar or Apr 1997. As mentioned earlier, wolf #030 has now paired with #035. Wolf #026, a female, has also coupled with male wolf #015, originally from the Soda Butte pack. Unfortunately, one of #027's pups was killed when it was hit by a car. Another pup, a male #046, has been sent to the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minnesota, after losing a leg to leghold trap set for his mother. He is doing well in his new home, where he shares an enclosure with another female pup.

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Pack Location: Acclimation Pen.

Crystal Creek Pack - 1995The Crystal Creek pack, which was once six strong when first released in 1995,has had its numbers reduced considerably to just two members. This pack was the most visible pack by visitors and biologist in 1995, as they more or less dominated territory in the Lamar Valley. It was thought that alpha female #005, may have had been pregnant in the spring of 1995, because the pack members were restricting their movements. This restriction of movement is one type of behavior biologists look for during the denning season to determine whether a pack may produce a litter. Unfortunately, no pups were ever seen that year. In the spring of 1996, the pack also exhibited denning behavior. But before biologists could determine whether this pack had pups, they were involved in a clash with the Druid Peak pack, which probably caused the death of Crystal Creek pack alpha male #004. A necropsy will be performed to determine the precise cause of death of this wolf. If there were pups, it's possible that the Druid Peak pack may have killed them as well, although no physical evidence of this has been collected. Currently, alpha female #005, and a two year old male #006, are the surviving members of the Crystal Creek pack.

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Pack Location: Frequent areas south of the Lamar Valley.

Updated: 02 Feb 97
This wolf report is furnished by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are 52 wolves inhabiting the Yellowstone area including 13 wolves that are in captivity awaiting release. The free ranging population includes 35 individual wolves that can be monitored and four that cannot be tracked. There a possibility that a minimum of six packs could produce pups this spring. It is conceivable that 75 or more wolves could inhabit the greater Yellowstone area by this time next year.

Of the 35 free roaming wolves, 20 inhabit the northern quarter of Yellowstone, 2 inhabit Pelican Valley in the central portion of the park, 5 inhabit the south central portion of Yellowstone near Heart Lake, and 2 wolves are located in the southeast corner of Yellowstone in the Thorofare region, another pair have restricted movement to an area about 20 miles northeast of Dubois, Wyoming, and four wolves travel widely throughout the Yellowstone area as lone wolves.

On 16 Jan 97, female #027 was captured. Her captured was necessitated due to the fact that from mid June 96 to mid July 96 she killed eight sheep. She will be held in an acclimation pen situated near Pelican Valley until a decision is made concerning her re-release. The remaining 12 wolves in captivity are scheduled for re-release during March or April 1997.

Updated: 15 Mar 97
This wolf report is furnished by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are 51 wolves inhabiting the Yellowstone area including 13 wolves that are in captivity awaiting release. The free ranging population includes 34 individual wolves that can be monitored and four that cannot be tracked. There a possibility that eight packs could produce pups this spring. It is conceivable that 75 or more wolves could inhabit the greater Yellowstone area by this time next year. Of the 34 free ranging wolves that can be monitored, all spend considerable periods of time inside Yellowstone, except two which have settled northeast of Dubois, Wyoming. The 13 wolves in captivity are scheduled to be released during April and June 1997.

Updated: 04 Apr 97

Wolf Known as "Old Blue" Dies

The wolf known as Number 13 has been found dead in Yellowstone. Old Blue was the alpha male of the Soda Butte pack. It is believe that he died on or near 19 Mar 97 of natural causes. He is believed to be the oldest one of the wolves reintroduced into the park. He was known as Old Blue because of its unique slate gray color.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, Joe Fontaine, stated that the wolf's radio collar began sending a "mortality signal" indicating no movement by the wolf on 19 March. Biologists spotted his body during a monitoring flight on the same day. Old Blue was found in a rugged area surrounding Heart Lake, this lead biologists to believe he died of natural causes. It is very difficult to accurately estimate the wolf's age, but biologists stated that a normal lifespan for a wolf in the wild is about 10 years.

Old Blue was among the first wolves released in Yellowstone as part of the wolf reintroduction project in winter of 1995. When released, he weighted 113 pounds and was very timid. His timidness led biologists to believe that he would not be the alpha male of the Soda Butte Pack. But shortly after their release, the male wolf that was thought to be the alpha male, left the pack, leading biologist to believe Old Blue was the alpha male.

Old Blue's death leaves the Soda Butte Pack with only four wolves - an adult female, two pups and one other sub-adult.

This information was supplied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Yellowstone-Glacier Adventures, Inc.

Updated: 13 May 9710 May 97 - Saturday

We pulled into a turnout about a mile east of the Lamar River bridge and joined a group who had spotted some wolves. We watched the alpha female (#9) of the Rose Creek Pack as she lay near some rocks in a small clearing. As we watched her, three of her pups (two black and a gray) came out and played! We were thrilled. These are the first pups I, my wife Carlene and others among us had ever seen. It was great! As we were watching, to our surprise, the alpha male (#8) stood up and stretched and posed for us. He is a gray wolf and blended in so well with the rocks and terrain, that we didn't even know he was in the clearing until he stood up. This all happened around 6:30 am and we watched them play and run back into the trees and appear and disappear on and off until about 9:30 am when they disappeared into the forest. This was a first and very exciting experience for all those who were there to share it.

Now some interesting news on the Rose Creek Pack, they have two litters of pups! One litter is located on the south side of the road. These pups were mothered by the alpha female and fathered by the Alpha male. It is believed that there are six or seven pups in this litter. Female #18 is believed to have had seven or eight pups on the north side of the valley in another den, also fathered by the Alpha male. Researchers are very interested to see if this pack will split up permanently to a Rose Creek 1 and 2 or will come back together. Also, some thoughts on the reason # 19 and her pups were killed, one theory is that they were sired by her brother and not the alpha male. Another theory is that the Druid Peak Pack killed her. I personally believe the first theory. The saga continues.

Researchers are also watching the Druid Peak Pack as three females are showing denning habits. So this is really going to be an interest spring in Yellowstone for wolfers and wildlife watchers!