New YNP wolves split, recapture planned

4/23/96.

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Two groups of the 17 new wolves released into
Yellowstone National Park have scattered. A
recapture of one of the split up groups is planned
when the bad weather breaks.

The wolves that were held in the Nez Perce Creek
enclosure on the west side of the Park quickly
scattered after their release (see previous articles).

The alpha male and a male pup headed north. The
alpha female and her three female pups headed NE
out of the Park, and, in her case, out of the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem.

After nearly reaching Billings, MT, the alpha
female turned back and is presently near the foothills
of the Beartooth Mountains near Nye. Her three pups
are also in the same foothills, but further to the
east near Red Lodge.

The alpha male and the male pup have also become
separated. The alpha male is in the Absaroka Mtns.
(pronounced Ab SORE key) due north of the Park in
Mill Creek. The pup in near the edge of these moun-
tains but farther to the south.

The new wolves held in the Crystal Bench pen, but released
later from the vacated Nez Perce pen, have also split.

Three of the wolves are to the west outside of the Park
near Quake Lake in the Henry's Lake Mountains/Madison
River area. This is about 20 miles west of West Yellow-
stone, Montana near the Idaho border. One of the wolves
is still in the Lower Geyser Basin Area near the Firehole
River.

The wolves near Quake Lake are the first Park wolves to
move westward out of the Park.

The rest of the wolves are stable with the Rose Creek Pack
in, or near, the Lamar Valley; the Soda Butte Pack in the
Beartooth Mountains, the (new) Druid Peak Pack in Slough
Creek, and the Crystal Bench Pack from last year in the
Pelican Valley.