Beginning of The End of Sheep Mountain Pack

The Sheep Mountain pack is in very serious trouble again. Apparently the seven member pack have not ceased depredations on area livestock and now the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service is about to embark on a last ditch attempt to "control" them.

This final control action will cause the elimination of the Sheep Mountain pack from Yellowstone's list of viable wolf packs.

While an article in the Bozeman Chronicle assumes to "make light" of the situation, (Does Scott McMillion find this humorous?) this pack is now in dire jeopardy of becoming extinct.

What is most disturbing about this plan is that if any of the wolves do avoid capture, they will be hunted down and shot on sight. No pack members will be allowed to escape this final control action.

It is highly unlikely that all seven wolves will be captured. And in fact, no one anticipates the capture of all the wolves. It's just a question of how many wolves will be caught and how many will be killed.

The wolves who are successfully captured face a hostile and terrifying ordeal. And if the experiment does not succeed in "modifying" their behavior, they too will be killed.

I've been informed that no amount of public pressure will sway the decision that has been made. If either the capture attempt or the experiment don't go as planned the pack will be destroyed.

My prayers are with Female #16 and her pack. All we have left is the hope that the experiment will be successful and that she, along with a few members of her pack will survive to be re-released in the fall. But as of the day the capture attempt begins, the Sheep Mountain pack as we know it, will cease to exist.

Since I don't have any recent photos of #16 and no one I've contacted does either, this photo may be fairly close to what she looks like today.

"If the end result of problem wolves keeps becoming the elimination of packs it's going to be really difficult to recover wolves."
Curt Mack, (Nez Perce/Idaho) wolf recovery leader.

This statement was made partially in response to the recent annihilation of two wolf packs in central Idaho, with a third pack now being carefully monitored. I think it's an appropriate quote to include on this page under the circumstances.

There's been very little information released on the capture of this pack up until today. Many people were fearing the worst due to the silence.

But I just learned that on May 25th Wildlife Services darted and captured a total of five wolves. Tragically one of those wolves, a sub-adult female was killed when a misplaced dart punctured her lung.

Female #16 was one of the five pack members captured. I don't know if male #118 was also captured. #118 was originally from the Crystal Creek Pack and was the only other adult in the pack.

I've also learned that Wildlife Services is still attempting to trap the remaining two wolves, a male and a female.

When all the wolves have been captured they will be taken to Ted Turner's Flying D Ranch outside of Bozeman Montana and put into a one acre enclosure.

The "aversive conditioning" is scheduled to begin around mid July and will continue until the wolves learn to avoid livestock. If they learn to avoid livestock. If the experiment fails the pack will never leave the pen. They will all be destroyed.

I am extremely concerned about what is going to be done to this pack. I realize that if it were not for Turner's good intentions the entire pack would have been killed, but this joint effort sounds more like it's being conducted just as a tool for learning rather than to actually try to save the lives of these wolves.

I doubt that neither Wildlife Services, USFWS or anyone else connected with this experiment ever expects these wolves to roam free again.

This whole situation is just tearing me up. When are we going to stop murdering these animals for doing what everyone should have been prepared for? We're supposed to be protecting wolves, not wiping out entire packs due to some minor livestock depredations.

Havn't there been enough packs destroyed already? How many more will suffer the consequences of a rule that is clearly no longer in the best interest of wolf recovery?

Which pack will be next to go? The Chief Joseph pack recently had two of its members killed and the rest of the pack is now in the process of being captured and relocated. And the Nez Perce pack already has two strikes against it. One more and they'll be "removed" also.

What will happen when other packs begin depredating on livestock? How many can we destroy? Where will it end?

I will continue to update this story as more information becomes available to me. Please see Wolf Updates for all new updates.