There has been a lot of grizzly bear and wolf news in the Jackson Hole area lately. Wolf 24F who has been raising her five pups by herself since the Highway 26 death of her mate, has been hunting mostly at night and has ignored the cattle grazing nearby. However, she recently was briefly captured in a snare set for a study of grizzly bears in the area. She was not hurt and was released to join her pups after receiving a new radio collar and medical checkup.
Wyoming Game and Fish personnel found her in the trap. They are trapping grizzlies so they can be radio-collared.. Game and Fish said that it was rare for a canine to show up in such a trap (a loop snare). Game and Fish plan to enlarge the loops so that a wolf is not trapped again.
The area around Elk Ranch Reservoir, which is the general area of her rendezvous site, is fairly thick with grizzly bears, black bears and coyotes. There are also cougar present. Then there are the 950 cows/calf pairs cows which no. 24 has so far avoided. Chief Park Ranger Colin Cambell was quoted in the Jackson Hole News, "So far, knock on wood, the wolf hasn't been in the cow pastures at all. She has been a model citizen." Grizzly bears have not avoided them. Grizzlies have killed two cows so far this season on the controversial livestock grazing allotment inside Grand Teton National Park. As a result of the grizzlies, the pasture area has been enclosed by an electric fence.
Meanwhile several cows were killed by predators within several miles of the Gros Ventre Pack's territory near Jackson. It is believed that a bear or bears probably killed the cows.
A calf was also killed on the Diamond G in the Dunoir area east of Jackson Hole. A wolf was suspected, but the carcass was been removed from the kill site to a barn before government biologist Mike Jimenez could arrive. SOP for ranchers with a suspect depredation is that they don't move the carcass or disturb the site. They should protect all the evidence.
Oddly, the owner of the Diamond G who has sued to have the wolves removed, seems to like grizzly bears, even though they too have also killed his cattle. There was a recent article on this in the Billings Gazette. "Rancher Shares Land With Grizzlies" by Jennifer Hafner.
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