More wolves released in Yellowstone and Idaho
January 30, 1996Eighteen gray wolves captured last week in northern British Columbia were brought to Idaho and Yellowstone over the weekend, joining the 19 wolves transplanted by government biologists into the region last week. The Idaho wolves were released directly into the wild, while the Yellowstone wolves were placed in a holding pen and will eventually be released into the park. The reintroductions are part of a controversial government program to reintroduce the endangered species to the United States. Twenty-nine wolves were introduced into the same Rocky Mountain region last January. Western ranchers, fearing wolf attacks on livestock, have opposed the program since its inception. While en route to Idaho--in Missoula, Montana--one of the wolves had to be killed after it bit the hand of a handler who reached into the wolf's traveling cage.
The wolves average more than 100 pounds each, and most are three or four years old, said Suzanne Laverty, a volunteer who helped examine the wolves after they were captured. "They were the healthiest, most beautiful wolves I've ever seen. The ones from last year were scrawnier. This year we had everything from a chocolate-black male to an almost pure white female." A Canadian group, Friends of the Wolf, offered a $5,000 Canadian ($3,700 U.S.) reward to anyone who freed the captured wolves from their holding pen in Fort St. John. "It's our form of civil disobedience," said Dennis Alvey, who runs the wolf conservation group. Alvey said his group opposes any extraction of gray wolves until Canada provides more protection for its wolf populations. He was confident that someone would attempt to free the wolves before they were shipped to the U.S. "Why wouldn't they? It's no crime. It's a lot of money." But officials said no attempt was made. This story prepared by Outside Online staff Photographs provided by Wild-Eyed Media |
Despite frigid cold and heavy snow, the operation this year to capture wolves in the Fort St. John area of British Columbia, which has a healthy wolf population, went smoothly, said Sharon Rose, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Dart guns and helicopters were used to catch the wolves, which were then held in a pen before being shipped to the United States.