In the first government control action against the Chief Joseph Pack, two of their pups-of-the-year have been shot in Tom Miner Basin, north of Yellowstone National Park. The control action came on Wednesday, Dec. 8, after the pack returned to a ranch where they had killed sheep in November.The two pups shot were 90-pound males. Their size made them indistinguishable from the adults in the pack. According to Ed Bangs, shooting several adults was the preferred option. In the past this pack has killed two of the ranchers guard dogs. He has four more guard dogs, but they have not been effective deterring the wolf pack, and he doesn't want to lose another according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
The pack, whose primary location is at the northwest corner of the Park moves up and down the Gallatin mountain range, which begins at Mt. Holmes in the west central part of Yellowstone and ends at Bozeman, Montana. Tom Miner Basin is a high mountain valley on the east side of the range about 15 miles north of Yellowstone. There are several ranches in the basin, although its future is obviously subdivision unless some entity like the Nature Conservancy, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, or the federal government acquires the land or buys a conservation easement.
As of Thursday, the pack was still near the Basin despite the control killing of two of its pups. Being in Tom Miner Basin was not the cause of the control according to a story in the Chronicle, the pack was approaching the sheep after the previous month's depredations. Radio-collared adults in the pack had been observed feeding on the sheep they had killed in the past, so there was not doubt about the identity of wolves that killed the sheep.
This is the second pack this year that has had members shot for livestock depredations just north of Yellowstone Park. Earlier six members of the Sheep Mountain Pack were killed for depredations just slightly to the east of Tom Miner Basin. Since the control killings of that pack, it appears they have stopping killing livestock, although USFWS reports several of pack came into "a yard in the Emigrant Valley [is that the "Paradise Valley'] and "interacted" with two dogs. The dogs were not injured.
It appears that eight members of the Chief Joseph Pack remain. Several dispersed earlier this fall and now two pups have been killed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported on 12-10 that the pack now has "about" 6 members. I would say the pack has, therefore, had numerous dispersals and/or unrecorded mortalities. The pack is not out of danger yet because they remain in the area, but hopefully the fact that two were shot and the pack was chased by a helicopter will deter the wolves. Bangs said if the pack continues to depredate they will probably be shot in steps of two at a time. In the most recent report from USFWS it was stated the control of the pack has ended unless more depredations occur.
I know some folks will be outraged about the killing of two members of the pack, but the wolf numbers will be replaced this coming spring when new pups are born. As I said about the Sheep Mountain Pack, if we want wolves north of Yellowstone, private lands need to be acquired and federal grazing allotments need to be changed. I have much more sympathy for depredations on private land than those of the "graze-for-free" livestock on public lands, although killing either conditions the wolves to seeing livestock as prey.
Email addresses for members of Congress, the media, and other officials.
Return To Maughan Wolf Report Page
Copyright © 1999 Ralph Maughan
Not to be reprinted, archived, redistributed, etc., without permission.
Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209