Yellowstone wolf mortalities

With a few exceptions, such as wolf 71F, this list was tediously compiled from scattered public information. These data were prepared by Ralph Maughan with assistance from B. D. Wehrfritz. Further corrections were supplied by Jim Halfpenny. The form of the data presentation and the exact text are copyrighted © Ralph Maughan.

updated last 11/21/2003

Here is the complete list of the wolves that died since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. A brief description of the circumstances follows.

1995

• Wolf 10M, April 26, 1995 near Red Lodge, Montana. Illegally shot by Chad McKittrick who received a prison sentence and fine. No. 10 was the original alpha male in the Rose Creek Pack. An article about the shooting and the aftermath.
• Pup 22M, Dec. 19, 1995 near Rose Creek in Yellowstone Park. This pup was born to no. 9F and 10M in late April 1995 (see death of his father above). He ran into the back side of a UPS truck. The accident was at night.

1996

• Wolf 3M, Feb. 5, 1996 near Emigrant, Montana. He was deliberately killed by the Federal agency (ADC), Animal Damage Control, after he returned to a farm where he had probably killed two (and perhaps more) sheep a week earlier. This was the first such control action of any of the wolves. Wolf no. 3 was originally part of the Crystal Creek Pack. Story 1. Story 2. Story 3.
• Wolf 12M, Feb. 11, 1996 near Daniel, Wyoming. Shot by an unknown person. This was a very large wolf -- originally, he was thought to be the alpha male of the Soda Butte Pack. The case was never solved. Story 1. Story 2. Story 3.
• Wolf 11F, March 30, 1996 north of Meeteetse, Wyoming. Mistaken for a coyote and shot by Jay York. York pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor and paid a $500 fine. No. 11 was also originally from the Soda Butte Pack. She had dispersed from the pack. Story.
• Wolf 36F, April 14, 1996 near Lone Star Geyser in the Park. No. 36 died of burns from a hot spring or geyser shortly after being released near Lone Star Geyser as the female of the "Lone Star Pair."  No. 36F, mate of 35M, was carrying pups.
• Wolf 4M, May 20, 1996 in the Park near Soda Butte Creek. This wolf was the alpha male of the Crystal Creek Pack. No. 4 died after a fight with the Druid Peak Pack. Story.
• Wolf 20M, about June 18, 1996 near Slough Creek in the Park. No.20, a yearling and son of no. 9F and 10M, was also killed in a fight with the Druid Peak Pack. Story on 20M and 32F.
• Wolf 32F, June 25, 1996 on U.S. 191 in the NW corner of the Park. No. 32 was hit at night (2 a.m.) by a semi-truck. She was the alpha female of the Chief Joseph Pack.
• Pup 45F, early September 1996. This pup was born in May 1996 to the Soda Butte Pack. She died of natural causes. The pup was found dead on September 3 in the enclosure where the pack was being held for a late autumn release The pack had been recaptured in June 1996 because it had denned far north of the Park on private land.
• Pup 46M, September 8, 1996. This pup born to no. 27F in May 1996 was accidentally trapped in leg hold trap set for his mother.  It was not known at the time she had live pups. The trap injured 46's foot. His foot had to be amputated. This wolf survives in facility in Minnesota, but he is a mortality as far his effect on the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is concerned.
• Pup 47M, September 21, 1996. This pup was born in May 1996 to the Nez Perce female, 27F. The pup was captured and penned with wolf 15M. Several days after its September release, 47M was hit by a vehicle. The accident was inside Yellowstone Park. After traveling several miles, the pup died near the Firehole River. Story.

1997

• Wolf 28M, shot in January 1997 by an unknown person or persons. His body found January 27 sometime after he was dumped in the Madison River upstream from Three Forks, Montana. No. 28 was released in April 1996 and had been a lone wolf the entire time. No. 28 was not near livestock. This was apparently a wanton killing. The case is unsolved and still under investigation. Story.
• Wolf 13M, died of natural causes (old age?) in February 1997.   Death was in the south portion of Yellowstone Park. No. 13M had been the alpha male of the Soda Butte Pack and was originally captured in Jan. 1995 in Alberta.
• Wolf 19F and four pups (nos. 73-76) in late April 1997. No. 19 was killed by other wolves (probably the Druid Peak Pack) after she denned alone near Slough Creek in Yellowstone Park. After her death, the four pups-of-the-year died of malnutrition and exposure. Number 19 was part of the Rose Creek pack and the daughter of no. 9F and 10M.
• Wolf 71F, accidentally killed May 9 south of Ruby Reservoir in SW Montana about 50 miles NW of Yellowstone NP.  No. 71 was killed by an M44 cyanide gun. These controversial devices are designed to kill coyotes, foxes, (and dogs or wolves if they happen by). This was an accidental mortality by ADC. I was told that BLM personnel had warned Fish and Wildlife Service and ADC that these devices could be dangerous to the reintroduced wolves. No. 71 was one of the dispersing Sawtooth yearlings. Story.
• Pup 91F, died about May 31 of natural causes inside the Nez Perce Pen. No. 91 was one of four pups in No. 37F's unexpected 1997 litter.
• Wolf 64F, another Sawtooth yearling, was legally shot by rancher Kevin Halverson near Big Timber, Montana on June 9. The wolf was in the act of attacking sheep. This was the first legal killing of a wolf by a livestock owner. Number 64F had been released from the Nez Perce pen in March.
• Wolf 69M, on July 3, 1997. This was another Sawtooth yearling, and it was the second  legal shooting of a wolf  by a rancher. No. 69 was shot by Allen Purcell in a pasture near his home in the vicinity of Leadore, Idaho. The wolf was attacking a lamb.  Earlier this wolf had killed a calf.
• Wolf 66M, on July 14, 1997, another Sawtooth yearling. He was hit and killed by a vehicle on the Canyon to Norris road. No. 66 had successfully bonded with the rejuvenated Nez Perce pack which had long been held in the Nez Perce enclosure, but was released in June.
• Wolf 17F, died in mid-July 1997 of natural causes. She was chasing prey and accidentally impaled herself on a sharp branch.  Her body was found discomposing on the branch about two weeks later. Number 17 left a litter of five. Her litter was adopted by their father, no 34M and his previous pack mate no. 33F. Number 17F was one of the original eight pups born to no. 9F and the late no. 10M. A photo of no. 17 as a brown pup looking out from under tree branch in Rose Creek, has been reproduced in numerous publications.
• Pup 108M, was killed on U.S. 191 speedway that goes through the extreme northwest corner of Yellowstone. The pup was down on the road on September 9 begging for food.  His mother, no. 16F, had been injured earlier by a vehicle on Highway 191. Number 16 survived, but two of no. 108's five litter-mates have disappeared and are probably dead  (nos. 110 and 112).
• Wolf 68F. Killed September 9, 1997 by the ADC in the upper Green River area of Wyoming after she had attacked numerous sheep and lambs on a number of occasions. The wolf had been relocated back to Yellowstone one time. This single wolf accounted for more livestock deaths than all the rest of the Yellowstone wolves put together. Wolf critics who cite an increased number of livestock depredations in 1997 almost always fail to acknowledge that the increase was solely due to this wolf.
• Wolf 27F, was killed by the ADC at Sage Creek south of Dillon, Montana on October 8. This bold wolf had actually jumped and snapped at the helicopter instead of submitting when she was captured in British Columbia. In Yellowstone she met with bad luck, although she bore five pups. The ADC killed her because she may have killed a calf at Sage Creek (in her case, a third offense). She was a very light gray wolf.
• Wolf 15M, was killed by the ADC on Oct. 26, 1997. He was the alpha male of the Washakie Pack. No. 15 unexpectedly took to killing cattle during September in the Dunoir. Valley area 30 miles southeast of Yellowstone Park. He was originally brought from Alberta in 1995 as subordinate member of the Soda Butte Pack. Story. This shooting made me angry. In retrospect, because the Fish and Wildlife Service did not pen the pack as they had planned, things may have turned out OK. Story 2.
• Wolf 63F, killed on October 26, 1997 by Wildlife Services (ADC). This was another Sawtooth yearling. I have no information where or the reason. Please email if you have information.
• Wolf 37F, killed by the ADC November 26, 1997. She was the alpha female of the rejuvenated Nez Perce Pack and also the daughter of 27F (killed by the ADC in the same vicinity on October 8). 37F was shot by the ADC when she returned to the Sage Creek area south of Dillon for the third time.  It is believed by many that she was looking for two of her pups. The pups had become separated from the pack in early October, the first time they went to Sage Creek. The fate of these two pups (93M and 94M) is not known.  It is not known if 37F ever killed livestock.
• Wolf 31M, the beta male of the Druid Peak Pack was found illegally shot dead on Dec. 4 during one of the pack's excursions from Yellowstone.  Number 31 was shot in Crandall Creek along with the pack's alpha male no. 38M. This is in the North Absaroka Wilderness northeast of Yellowstone Park. Number 31M had been brought from British Columbia in Jan. 1996 as part of the Chief Joseph Pack. He was allowed to join the Druids in autumn of 1996. Story.
• Wolf 38M, was also illegally shot in Crandall Creek. He did not die, but struggled over to nearby Hoodoo Creek. The Yellowstone Park wolf team air-dropped meat to no. 38, who was in the bottom of a rugged and remote gorge, but after about a week-and-a-half he finally died. No. 38 did manage to climb out of the gorge. Story.
• All seven of the 1997 litter born to famous Rose Creek alpha 9F died. One died at the den site and the rest drowned as she was trying to carry them across the Lamar River, presumably to the den site of her daughter 18F. The pups were numbers 86-90, 100 and 140.

1998

• Wolf 30F. Killed in an avalanche in January 1998 near Eagle Pass. Her body and that of her pup no.127 were finally recovered in late August 1998.
• Pup 127. Killed in the avalanche along with its mother, no. 30F. (see above).
• Wolf 35M. Natural mortality in early February (?) 1998. No. 35, the alpha male of the Thorofare Pack, was killed by the Soda Butte Pack near the mouth of the Yellowstone River as it empties into Yellowstone Lake. It is assumed 35's death happened after that of no. 30F and pup 127 listed below. Number 30F and 35M were the alpha pair of the Thorofare Pack. The deaths resulted in the pack's disintegration.
• Wolf 39F. On March 4, number 39F was illegally killed in the Sunlight Basin area east of Yellowstone N.P.  She was the only white wolf in the Yellowstone country, although the late 27F was a very light gray. The man who shot her claimed he thought she was a coyote. He was fined $500. Story: Number 39 Remembered (Defenders of Wildlife).
• Unidentified female wolf (probably from Yellowstone). On April 15, 1998, a black female wolf was killed by an M44 cyanide gun near Alder, Montana. This is near where wolf 71F was killed in May 1997. In both cases the gun was set to kill coyotes. Doug Smith speculates  that she was one of the hard luck pups born to number 16F in the spring of 1997. She has not been officially declared a Yellowstone wolf.
• Wolf 135M. Shot by Wildlife Services on June 13 for being a member of a pack depredating on livestock in the area. Wildlife Services had  planned to shoot this wolf, but at the time they thought they had shot no. 26F, who was their main target.
• Wolf 26F. Shot by Wildlife Services on June 21 in an effort to end livestock depredations by the Washakie Pack (see wolf 135) above. Post-mortem examination showed her to have a number of lost and broken teeth. She was the pack's alpha female. Her death resulted (as intended) in the disintegration of the Washakie Pack.
• Wolf 111F. Found dead in Yellowstone in early July of presumed natural causes. Her body was found in Antelope Creek at the base of Mt. Washburn. It was determined she was not the victim of a vehicle accident. She was the only surviving radio-collared offspring of wolf 16F's litter from 1997.
• Wolf 67F. Shot on Aug. 22 by Wildlife Services after chasing cattle in Montana to the west of Yellowstone NP. This was her third strike. She was the 7th of the orphaned pups from NW Montana's now-dispatched Sawtooth Pack this was shot or killed after their surprising shipment to Yellowstone in the summer of 1996. She whelped five pups in May 1998. The fate of these pups in unknown, but three of them may be part of the Nez Perce Pack.
• Wolf 6M. Found dead in the Pelican Valley of Yellowstone NP on August 25. His death was natural -- probably the result of injury during elk  hunting or from an encounter with a grizzly bear over possession of the kill. He was probably the biggest wolf in the Park at the time of his death. In the winter of 1998, he was weighed at 142 pounds. He was alpha male of the Crystal Creek Pack.
• Pup 139. One of the Druid Peak pack's two pups from 1998. Disappeared from the pack during the summer of 1998 and was presumed dead because it was too young to survive on its own in the event it was stranded or lost the pack.
• Pup141M. This black male pup from the Chief Joseph Pack was killed October 16 on U.S. Highway 191 which runs through the middle of the pack's territory.
• Wolf 83M. Found dead Oct. 27 near the Lamar River of a puncture wound to the chest. The would was probably due to an elk antler or a snag -- a stick. Wolf 83 belonged to the Rose Creek Pack. He was born in April 1997.
• Pup 142F. The second pup from the Chief Joseph pack to be killed in 1998 on U.S. 191, was this gray female, hit and killed on Nov. 27.
• Female wolf Rose Creek Pack (85F?). Attacked and killed by the Druid Peak pack 12-10-98. The attack was led by alpha and beta females of the Druids. The dead Rose Creek wolf is believed to have been 85F, but this has not been established for certain.
• Uncollared gray female wolf. On December 8 this female wolf was killed by an M44 cyanide gun about 12 miles north of Cody, Wyoming on BLM land in Badger Basin. The origin of the wolf has not been determined.
• Pup 169. A third of the Chief Joseph Pack's pups of 1998 disappeared at some time between summer and winter.

1999

• Pup 160F. This pup from the Rose Creek Pack was killed on January 17 by accident when her leg suffered a compound fracture from a misplaced shot from a tranquilizer dart during capture and radio-collaring operations. Because of the severity of the fracture, the pup was euphemized.
• Wolf 43M. The 2 3/4 year-old male from the Soda Butte Pack was killed by other wolves (almost certainly the Crystal Creek pack) in Yellowstone near Turbid Lake sometime in early February. His frozen carcass was recovered.
• Wolf 82M. The carcass of this black 2 year-old member of the Rose Creek Pack was recovered in Yellowstone on May 12.  It appears the cause of death was natural.
• Wolf 133M. The alpha male (black) of the new Teton Pack was killed on U.S. 26 in the Buffalo Valley on June 21.. He was probably hit by a truck.
• Six control kills of the Sheep Mountain Pack.   These were pups 182M, 183F, and 184F on Oct. 6.The black (probable) alpha male 165M on Oct. 10, and gray yearlings 167F and 168F on Nov. 3.
• Wolf 123M. Soda Butte Pack wolf born in 1997 and killed by the Crystal Creek Pack Dec. 1 in the Pelican Valley, YNP.
• Wolf 78F. Formerly of the Rose Creek Pack, she was the alpha female of a new unnamed pack of about seven members. She was illegally killed in Mill Creek, a tributary of the Yellowstone River, about ten miles NE of Pray, Montana. Her death is still under investigation. The fate of her pack is unknown. All members but her were uncollared. There is no reason to think they died too.
• 2 pups 185M and 186M. On Dec. 8 two large pups from the Chief Joseph Pack were shot in a control action after the pack approached the sheep on a ranch in Tom Miner Basin north of Yellowstone where they had previously depredated sheep and killed several livestock dogs.
• There was very high mortality of pups in 1999. As a result the wolf population barely grew. 21 pups in addition to those above died. Probably most died of parvovirus infection (based on the time they disappeared -- at about 2 1/2 months).

2000

• Wolf 163M. February. Born to the Druid Peak Pack in 1998, this wolf dispersed in 1999 and was found dead of natural causes, high in the Absaroka Mountains east of Yellowstone NP, in Feb. 2000.
• Pup 187F. Feb. 19.  This 10-month old pup from the Chief Joseph Pack was yet another causality of US 191. She was hit by a bus Feb. 19. Before the pup's body could be recovered, someone stole it. The case has not been solved.
• Wolf in Gros Ventre River drainage. March.  This female wolf, less than 2 years age, was found starved to death subsequent to an injury that broke her back, probably from prey. Her origin pack is unknown.
• Wolf 14F. April. The long time alpha female of the Soda Butte Pack was found dead next to a moose in April. It was expected she would bear her first litter of pups in 3 years. From a brief time after 14's death it looked bad for the Soda Butte Pack, but then is was discovered that another female in the pack had bred, and the pack was rejuvenation.
• Wolf 40F, alpha female of the Druid Peak Pack was killed in the Lamar Valley by her pack mates on May 7, 2000. Story. Ironically, the death of no. 40 resulted in a population explosion in the pack. It is likely she had been suppressing the pack's size, probably by killing pups that were not her own.
• Wolf 199M. May 24. This yearling male from the Druid Peak Pack was found dead from a vehicle collision near Soda Butte. Thus only one pup from the 1999 Druid litter survived the years 1999-2000. This surviving wolf nicknamed "the Saddleback" was never radio collared.
• Wolf 197F. May 25. Sheep Mountain Pack yearling. She was killed accidentally in a darting operation near the Paradise Valley to capture the pack for aversive conditioning. A tranquilizer dart punctured her lung.
• Wolf 188F. Sheep Mountain Pack. June 8. She was shot by the government because she could not be successfully captured for aversive conditioning.
• Wolf 8M Rose Creek Pack. Early July. The long-time alpha male was found dead of natural causes under the water in Slough Creek, pinned by some logs.  Story.
• Wolf 16F, alpha female Sheep Mountain pack died in mid-July in captivity at the Flying D Ranch. Her death was caused by the stress of the capture and confinement. She, and three others of her pack had been captured for aversive conditioning to livestock. The other three wolves have remained in good health in the enclosure and will be released in late November 2000.
• Wolf 129F and 230F  (uncollared, but probably at least 2 years old) of the Gros Ventre Pack were killed September 24. by USFWS in the Gros Ventre Mountains after they had killed Bob Ingalls' cattle and 3 livestock dogs. The Service said the control kill was due to the cattle depredations, not a fight between the wolves and the dogs. The Service had thought it captured and radio-collared the alpha female, but she was an unknown wolf and as a result the pack lost all of its radio collars.
• Wolf 24F. November 30. She was the alpha female of the Teton Pack, and was found dead of illegal poisoning near Soda Lake in the foothills of the Gros Ventre Mountains east of Jackson Hole. Story. She was a famous wolf.
• "Soda Springs, Idaho" wolf.  This wolf was trapped and killed by Wildlife Services in December after it killed numerous sheep over a period of more than a year, and had for a while teamed with a Great Pyrenees dog who had become sheep killer.  Although the wolf lived in Idaho, he was in the Yellowstone wolf recovery area. The origin of the wolf is unknown. He may have been a Yellowstone wolf or an escapee from Ligertown. Story.
• Wolves 120M and 124M. Two additional deaths in 2000 for which I have no date or circumstances. 120M was an adult in the Crystal Creek Pack and 124M was an adult male in the Soda Butte Pack..

2001

• Wolf 212F. A yearling from the Nez Perce pack was killed by Swan Lake Pack on Jan. 18, just after she had been radio collared. Story.
• Wolf 92M. He was found dead in January south of Yellowstone National Park. He had been a member of the Nez Perce Pack and was possibly killed by other wolves.
• Wolf 189M. One of the 3 remaining brothers from the Sheep Mountain Pack drowned in early March in Tom Miner Creek, when he broke through the ice and was swept under.
• Wolf 148F. An adult disperser from the Leopold Pack was found dead on March 23 along a frontage road near Bozeman Pass, 9 miles west of Livingston. Story.
• Uncollared black male near Pinedale, Wyoming. The wolf was trapped and killed by Wildlife Services after sporadic livestock depredations over a period of time. Many think the black wolf was a disperser from the Teton Pack.
• Wolf 232M. June 6. He was alpha male of the Gravelly Pack. He was shot by Wildlife Services for killing sheep south of Dillon, Montana. The alpha female and her pups for taken to the Turner Ranch for aversive conditioning, but 2 or 3 members of the pack were never captured. Story. In early 2002 the captured portion of the pack was released in extreme northwest Montana in the Yaak River drainage. Wolf 232M and the surviving uncaptured members of the Gravelly Pack accounted for most of the sheep losses in Montana in 2001.
• Wolf 229M. He was killed about June 25 by Wildlife Services near Cokeville, WY for killing 18 sheep. He was a disperser from the Teton Pack.
• Wolf 196M. Shot by Wildlife Services on July 20, after he had participated in killing a calf near Mill Creek, east of Paradise Valley, Montana. He was one of the 3 "conditioned" wolves, who in fact received almost no aversive conditioning.
• Wolf 33F. Alpha female of the Chief Joseph Pack was killed on the night of Aug. 8-9 by a semi-truck on U.S. 191. The pack was feeding on a moose that had been killed earlier by another truck.  She was really flattened. She was the second alpha female of this pack to be hit and killed by a truck on 191. Wolf 32F, her sister, was hit and killed June 1996 by a semi-truck. Story.
• Sub-adult male from the Absaroka Pack. Killed Oct. 5 by Wildlife Services in the Sunlight Basin area northwest of Cody after the pack had killed 7-8 cow calves during the summer. A kill order was also put on the alpha male, but weather and location of the pack caused this kill to be aborted.
• Wolf 138M. Shot on October 12 by Wildlife Service while on a cow calf carcass in the Madison Valley. He had been the alpha male of the Taylor Peaks Pack.
• Uncollared "adult-sized" female. Shot on October 12 on same carcass as wolf 138M. From the Taylor Peaks Pack. See above.
• Wolf 195M. Alpha male of the rejuvenated Sheep Mountains Pack was killed Oct. 10 by Wildlife Services when he was observed feeding on a cow calf with the rest of the Sheep Mountain Pack. He was the last of the 3 aversively-conditioned brothers from the Turner Ranch experiment.
• Wolf 191M was shot by Wildlife Services near Kemmerer, Wyoming on Nov. 28. 191M was a disperser from the Nez Perce Pack. He had been involved in several sheep depredations this summer and had also attacked 2 dogs and killed another this fall. Kemmerer in SW Wyoming has been a black hole for wolves with numerous wolves moving south toward Utah ending up shot there by the government.
• Wolf 34M. Alpha male of the Chief Joseph Pack was found dead near Fir Ridge near the west boundary of Yellowstone Park on Nov. 28. He was apparently gored by an bull elk and then finished off by the nearby Cougar Creek wolf pack. Story.
• Wolf 155F. November-early December. The alpha female of the Freezeout pack was found shot dead. Her place in the Freezeout Pack was soon filled by 115F, the former alpha female of the nearby Taylor Peaks pack.

2002

• Wolf 9F, Date? The most famous wolf to inhabit the Greater Yellowstone presumably died sometime in 2001-2002. She was last seen with the Beartooth Pack, NE of Yellowstone in the fall of 2001.
• Wolf 202M. Shot by the government Feb. 27, along with an uncollared adult black female east of Dillon, Montana, after a trio of wolves had killed 13 sheep and wounded 20 more. The third wolf escaped. 202M was a disperser from the Chief Joseph Pack. The other 2 wolves were believed the remnants of the Gravelly Pack and had probably killed many sheep.
• Uncollared black female wolf. Feb. 27. See above.
• Wolf 203M, an adult disperser from the Chief Joseph Pack was control killed on April 9.
• Wolves 224M (former Druid), 263M, 264F, 265M. Killed March 26 in the foothills of the Paradise Valley near Chico Hot Springs because they had harassed horses and fed on an aborted cow calf. These wolves were part of, or associated with the Sheep Mountain Pack. This was one of largest control actions after the least provocation in the history of the Yellowstone area wolf recovery.
• Wolf 7F. Co-founder of the Leopold Pack was found dead in northern Yellowstone on May 4, killed by other wolves. 7F was the long time alpha female of the Leopold Pack. Story. Second story.
• Wolf 272M. Mill Creek Pack. This black adult wolf was shot on May 10 by the landowner who saw it kill and begin to eat a cow calf on his property in the Paradise Valley.
• Wolf 273F. Probably from the Sheep Mountain Pack, this sub-adult female wolf was found dead in May 24 in the 6-mile drainage near Dome Mountain, north of Yellowstone NP. Probably an illegal killing.
• Adult female member of the Washakie Pack was killed for generic livestock depredations on June 19. The idea was to shoot any wolves found in the open to reduce the size of the pack.
• Wolf 147M of the Washakie Pack was euthanized in mid-July when he was found lying in a creek with a shattered rear leg in Sheridan Creek, NE of Dubois, WY. Read story.
• Wolf 218F, a Geode Creek Pack adult was found dead on July 28 in YNP. She was probably killed by an ungulate.
• Wolf 277F an adult of the Chief Joseph Pack was yet another victim to US 191 on July 26.
• Wolf 254M. The decomposing body of this disperser from the Druid Peak Pack was found August 7 at the base of a cliff in Timothy Creek. This was a natural mortality, but the exact cause was not determined due to the state of decomposition.
• Sub-adult in the Sunlight Basin Pack on Sept. 30.
• Wolf 252M, a disperser from the Druid Pack was shot by sheep operator near Dillon MT on Oct. 7. Due to previous wolf depredations in the area, the operator had a permit to shoot a wolf on his private land if he saw one.
• Wolf 313F, a adult Gravelly Pack remnant was shot in SW Montana Oct. 24 for livestock depredations.
• Two pups from the Mill Creek Pack were shot on Nov. 11 by a landowner near Pray, MT (Paradise Valley) after returning with the pack to a farm where they had previously killed 15 sheep.
• Wolf 2M, Co-founder of the Leopold Pack was killed on New Year's Eve by the Geode Pack near Hellroaring Slopes. His mate 7F had been killed May 4 by the Geode Pack. 2M was the last of the original 14 wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995. Story.

2003

• Wolf 164M of the Absaroka Pack, died sometime in the winter of complications related to mange. 164M had been the alpha male of the Absaroka Pack and survived one winter with the infestation, but not the second.
• 2 dispersing black yearlings from the Teton Pack were killed Jan. 7 by Wildlife Services near Pinedale, Wyoming after they might have helped kill a cow calf and on Jan. 6 approached sheep near a rancher's place. Story.
• Wolf 211M, a loner, originally from the Leopold Pack, was found dead in late January 21 near Slough Creek in YNP. 211 had been killed by other wolves in an area of intense competition between wolf packs. An earlier USFWS report incorrectly identified the dead wolf as 210M.
• Wolf 297F, a 10-month old pup from the Mill Creek Pack was found dead by biologist Val Asher near Paradise Valley on Jan. 29. The wolf had been killed, partially eaten and cached by a mountain lion.
• Wolf 309F. Feb. 4. Yearling female. Pack unknown. Natural mortality Yellowstone
• Wolves 307M and 308F of the Mill Creek Pack were control killed for on-going livestock depredations. 307M was an adult and 308F a pup.
• All 4 members of the Red Lodge group were killed on Feb. 24 by Wildlife Services after numerous minor livestock depredations. It took the Service almost a year to locate these wolves. Post-mortem, these wolves were numbered 311? (pup) 312? (pup), 310M, and 298F.
• Two black yearling males were killed by Wildlife Services from Utah near the Idaho-UT-Wyoming border after they mortally attacked two sheep.
• Wolf 296M of the Agate Pack. This 130-pound wolf was found dead in Yellowstone Park on March 20. Cause of death is being investigated. At first thought be caused be an ungulate, but no trauma was found. Suspicion is now disease or ingestion of a natural toxic material.
• 175F beta female of Molly's Pack was killed by a bison in the Pelican Valley in late March. Molly's Pack successfully attacked and killed a bull bison, but lost 175F. Two other members of the pack were injured in this tough battle.
• 294M, the alpha male of the Geode Pack was killed on about April 27. There was major trauma to the wolf's side, apparently caused by an ungulate.
• 200F, the alpha female of the Teton Pack. Found dead April 27, probably killed by some of her pack.
• 105F, the alpha female of the Buffalo Fork Pack was found dead in mid-June in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness north of Yellowstone Park. She was killed by the rival Rose Creek Pack.
• 208M, of the "Tower Pair" died or was killed sometime early in 2003. His body, decomposed, was recovered June 19 near Mount Washburn. Only the skull was removed. He may have been killed by rival wolves. He was born to the Rose Creek pack
• 238M, alpha male of the Sentinel Pack was found dead in a field near a highway. Foul play is suspected.
• 251F, alpha female of a new wolf pack, was found dead on 6/26/03. She had a territory in northern YNP and pups were observed at her den. She was killed by an unknown predator possibly a grizzly bear because her carcass had been cached (partially buried for later retrieval) by a grizzly
• The alpha female of the Taylor Peaks Pack was legally shot July 27 after she continued to frequent an area where sheep were grazing and where her pack had recently killed sheep.
• 240M, of the Absaroka Pack was euthanized only July 5. He had been trapped because he had been involved in a calf depredation. He was found to have a severe case of mange, indicating the pack was not freed of the infestation when the former alpha male 164M died of its complications.
• 162M, the alpha male of the new Green River Pack, was shot by government agents on July 17 after one or more members of the pack killed 2 cow calves.
• 259F, alpha female of the Leopold Pack was found dead in August of unknown natural causes. She had been dead a long time.
• 2 wolves from the Daniel Pack (pack's existence not known at the time) died of heat exposure after capture for radio collaring. This occurred in mid-August after some wolves had killed some sheep near Daniel in the Wyoming Range. Several weeks later a pack of 16 wolves was discovered.
• A gray male from the Washakie Pack was shot from a helicopter by Wildlife Services on Sept. 18 near Horse Creek in the Absaroka Range. This control kill was due to a depredation on a cow calf.
• 220F, of the Leopold Pack was found long dead in YNP on Oct. 20. Natural causes.
• 207M, the alpha male of the Rose Creek Pack was found long dead on Oct. 20 in Hellroaring Creek, 3 miles north of YNP of natural causes.
• 260F of the Rose Creek Pack was found long dead on Hellroaring Slopes inside YNP on Oct. 23 of natural causes.

Summaries:

Illegally shot: 10 (10M, 12M, 11F, 28M, 31M, 38M, 39F, 78F, 155F, 273F)
Illegally poisoned: 1 (24F)
Legally killed: 47 (3M, 64F, 69M, 68F, 63F, 27F, 37F, 15M, 135?, 26F, 67F, "Kemmerer canid," 182M, 183F, 184F, 165M, 167F, 168F, 185M, 186M, 188F, 129F 230F, Soda Springs wolf, 232M,  229M, 196M, Absaroka Pack sub-adult, 191M, 195M, 202M, uncollared female, 224M, 263M, 264F, 265M, 272M, 147M, 252M, 2 black Teton pack, Red Lodge Group - 4 wolves, 2 black males, 240M, alpha female Taylor Peaks, 162M, male Washakie Pack)
Road kill: 12 (22M, 32F, 47M, 66M, 108?, 141M, 142F, 133M, 187F, 148F, 199M, 33F)
Natural (adults): 38 (36F, 4M, 20M, 13M, 19F, 17F, 35M, 30F, 6M, 83M, 85F?, 43M, 82M, 123M, 163M, female in Gros Ventre River area,14F, 40F, 8M, 212F, 92M, 189M, 34M, 7F, 2M, 164M, 211M, 296M,175F, 294M, 200F, 105F, 208M, 251F, 259F, 220F, 207M, 260F)
Natural (pups): This is an undercount due to lack of data (45F, (73-76), 91F, (86-90), 100, 117, 110, 112, 127, 169, 139, 140 +21 pups in 1999. 10-13 pups in 2000, 297F)
Other: 11 (46M, 71F, uncollared adult female wolf, 111F, 160F, 78F, 197F, 16F, 238M, 2 wolves from Daniel Pack)

 

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Deaths per year-

1995: 2

1996: 10

1997: 33

1998: 17

1999: 14 + ~21 unaccounted pups 

2000: 16 + 10-13 unaccounted pups

2001: 16+ ? unaccounted pups

2002: 11

2003: 31

Total mortalities = at least 145 + unaccounted pups

11/21/03 01:01 AM

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