The Sawtooth Pack is no more. After several years of sporadic attacks on livestock near Augusta, Montana, the federal agency Animal Damage Control (recently euphemized into "Wildlife Services"), has killed two members of the Sawtooth Pack. The pack, which had been reduced a number of times in the past by the ADC in response to livestock attacks, consisted of three members. Two of the remaining three pack members were shot on December 19. The remaining wolf was not found.The Sawtooth Pack was the first pack of native wolves to colonize the Rocky Mountain Front, where the plains abruptly meet the Rocky Mountains in NW Montana.
The pack began when two wolves from extreme NW Montana (from near Eureka) moved into the area back in 1988. They had pups. At times the pack was as large as 16 animals.
The name Sawtooth Pack often causes confusion, prompting some folks to think that the captive pack at Winchester, Idaho has somehow gotten loose and been shot. The wild Sawtooth Pack was named after a local landmark -- Sawtooth Reef -- on of the peaks of the Front Range.
In 1996 the adults in this wild pack were slated to be shot because of repeated livestock attachks. The pack, howeer, was the source of ten pups for Yellowstone Park. These "Sawtooth pups" were raised in Park enclosures with unrelated adult wolves for almost a year. Eight of the Sawtooth yearlings were released in March and the rest in June 1997. They did fare well on the loose. Three of the ten are still known to be alive. A number were shot attacking livestock. Others were prone to accident.
Below are past stories I wrote about the Sawtooth Pack and its Yellowstone offspring (mostly about the offspring).
Sawtooth yearling shot after killing more sheep near Pinedale 9-17-97
Sawtooth yearling kills sheep near Pinedale, Wyoming. 8-22-97
Sawtooth yearling shot while attacking sheep at Leadore, Idaho 7-12-97
Sheep rancher on Beartooth Front legally kills one of the Sawtooth Yearlings (6-11-97) with a revised story 6-26-97
Eight of the Sawtooth Pups are released 3-19-97
Yet Another Sawtooth Yearling Killed; Hit by automobile in Yellowstone
7-16-97Six more NW Montana pups come to Yellowstone NP 9/10/96 (revised story 9/15/96).