Gros Ventre Pack loses two members to control after killing livestock dogs and killing a calf.

Gros Ventre Pack loses two members to control after killing livestock dogs and killing a calf.
DuNoir wolves also attack more dogs

9-24-2000

With 2 updates on 9-25. Story about a Teton Pack fight with dogs added on 10-9.

Today (9-24) this update was sent out by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

"The Gros Ventre pack [east of Jackson Hole] killed 1 calf and wounded another and killed 3 dogs. Apparently the pack killed the calf and left the area after having fed on it. When the pack returned they caught the producer’s dogs near the carcass and killed two dogs (Rhodesian leopard hounds).

This was the second time wolves (the separate Teton pack killed a dog earlier in the year) killed his dogs.

The Gros Ventre returned and killed a third dog. WS has captured the alpha female, a radio collared female, and an older female. The older female and radio-collared female were euthanized. The alpha female was radio-collared and released on site."

The pack obviously treated the dogs as a rival wolf pack that had taken over their kill.

I will try and find out who the "producer" was (Ingalis I'll guess).

The report is confusing because the alpha female has been thought to have been accompanied by her same age sister (both originally from the defunct Thorofare Pack). The use of the term "older female" suggests our suppositions were wrong or that the report itself has a mistake. It may also indicate that a new adult wolf had joined the pack.

The alpha male is old wolf R29M, the famous escape artist no wolf pen could hold.

This is the first control of any of the wolves in the Jackson Hole area.

Wolves kill dog in the Dunoir-

In an unrelated attack, the Dunoir wolves got some dogs on the Diamond G. USFWS reports:

"Wolves attacked another dog near the ranch house on the Diamond G Ranch but did not kill it. The dogs (Great Pyrenees) were being let out prior to being put in their kennel for the night and the attack happened within a few yards of the managers wife.

The wolves killed a neighbor’s dog (Rottweiler) in their front yard a couple of nights later.

The ranch manager will be issued some non-lethal ammunition after he has been trained in how to use it. The shotgun shells contain a lead filled bean bag that is designed to provide some negative reinforcement and condition them to stay away from the ranch house.

We greatly appreciate the efforts of the ranch manager. WS will trap in the area beginning next week to try and trap and relocate an uncollared wolf from the area."

Update no. 1. 9-25-00 on Gros Ventre- Regarding the confusion on the wolves. A new adult wolf was found with the pack. She was an uncollared gray wolf, weighing 85 pounds. She was killed and 129F, the radio-collared sister of the alpha female 137F, was also killed. No. 137F had never been handled or radio collared, but she is now. Mike Jimenez told me the two wolves put down were selected in part to minimize the impact their destruction on the social structure of the pack.

It turns out it is Service policy not to release the name of the rancher, but local papers report it is Dan Ingalls.

Update no. 2. 9-25-00. Here is a story (mostly on the Dunoir incident) in the Billings Gazette. Rancher permitted to shoot wolves with bean bags. This is the first authorized non-lethal, but injurious harassment of wolves.

Story added on 10-9. A veterinarian recently emailed me about a story in Sublette County Journal, a weekly I didn't know was on-line. It describes a fight between the Teton Pack (not the Gros Ventre Pack) and dogs from the same rancher, Dan Ingalls, who lost the three dogs to the Gros Ventre Pack. This was in August, prior to the Gros Ventre incident and subsequent control killing of 2 wolves. I found out that Ingalls is controversial because he put in a $900,000 claim last year for grizzly bear depredation on his livestock. He got $78,000 instead (still a lot) from Wyoming Game and Fish and a chastisement. Story from Feb. 28, 2000 Billings Gazette.

Wolf Pack Attacks Dogs 3 Dogs injured in Upper Green by Rob Shaul. Sublette County Journal. August 24, 2000.

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Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209