News on Female #9 and Last Two Surviving Offspring of the Late Alpha Female #16

Last week I was informed that female 9's radio-collar has finally gone dead after 6 years. The signal from her collar had begun to weaken several months ago and as of last month it stopped transmitting completely. Sadly what this means is that there will no longer be any way of tracking her whereabouts. Unless there are any aerial sightings, which are extremely unlikely due to her remote location, the world's most famous and beloved wolf, the "grand matriarch" of over 70% of all Yellowstone's wolves, will likely one day vanish into the vast wilderness and die an obscure and unknown death.

I'm just now beginning to come to terms with this news. My first reaction was that of deep sorrow, but the more I think about it the more I believe that for me, it may be better this way. If I am never aware of her death I will always be able to keep alive the image of her roaming the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

I have also just learned that the last two surviving offspring of the late Alpha female #16 have been targeted for elimination. Wildlife Services was authorized to shoot the two Alpha males as soon as possible due to separate livestock depredations by both male's packs.

I am so deeply saddened by this news that I am writing this with tears in my eyes and a deep aching in my heart. For those of you who have been following my updates you know how much I cared about female #16 and how devastated I was when she died so needlessly. Female #16 was always a good wolf but she knew nothing but abandonment and tragedy the entire five years she was with us and now her only surviving offspring are about to be destroyed.

Female #16 gave birth to her first litter in 1997. The father of those pups was #34M, the (still) Alpha of the Chief Joseph pack. #34 had also bred with #16's sister, #17F, and for reasons unknown he chose to tend #17's den, leaving #16 pretty much on her own to raise her five pups. #16 was a loving and devoted mother to her pups, much like her own mother (#9F) had been, but soon tragedy came between #16 and her pups. One night in late summer #16 was seriously injured by a vehicle on highway 191 and her injuries were so severe that she could no longer care for her pups. Her pups were just four months old at the time. Soon after that two of her pups were observed begging for food along highway 191 and they were known to have died a short time later. One pup was struck and killed by a car on highway 191, and the last two just disappeared and were presumed dead. Miraculously one of those pups had survived though and was briefly reunited with her mother, only to die of Cyanide poisoning a few months later.

In 1998 female #16 gave birth to her second litter. #34 was the suspected father but it was later learned that the father was probably #165M. Apparently #165 and #16 had met and bonded quite some time before biologists became aware of his presence and position in the pack.

For a while all seemed well with #16 and her new family and her pack was renamed the Sheep Mountain pack. A few months later in April of 1999 #16 gave birth to her third litter. The pack now consisted of at least three adults, six yearlings and six pups. And then the control actions begun.

In the first control action three of her pups, then only six months old, were mistaken for yearlings and killed. Then her mate, #165 was killed. And then a short time later two of her yearling daughters were killed. It was soon after this that yearling male #164 dispersed from the pack and joined up with his grandmother, Alpha female #9, one of her daughters, #153F and another male of unknown origin. At the time I remember breathing a deep sigh of relief that at least one of #16's offspring would be spared.

Eventually wolves #164F and #153F split from #9F and started their own family. After their first litter was born in April 2000 the pack was named the Absaroka pack. Until recently there was never any indication that Alpha male #164 had begun attacking livestock and it was only last month that I heard of this for the first time. I am just heartbroken that this wolf, a wolf I always believed would be spared from control actions, has now too been singled out and targeted for elimination. As for Alpha male #195, I always knew that he could be destroyed if he was even suspected of killing livestock because of his "release conditions" but until recently he hadn't gotten into any trouble and I remained hopeful that he also might be spared.

So, with the executions of wolves #164M and #195M, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and Wildlife Services will have destroyed every last one of female #16's offspring. I don't know of any other wolves or packs in all of Yellowstone that have been so systematically targeted for elimination and I will never understand the decisions behind this. Other packs have depredated on livestock and none have ever been so targeted for total annihilation.

Below is the exact text taken from the latest Gray Wolf Recovery Report on the control actions of wolves #164M, Alpha of the Absaroka pack and #195M, Alpha of the Sheep Mountain pack. I bolded the pertinent words

"The Absaroka pack (2 adults, 2 yearlings, and 3-4 pups) have killed another calf (8th so far) on a private ranch, 6 on USFS allotments and 2 on private land. Control by hazing and then trapping was unsuccessful at stopping further problems and thick cover and high winds delayed aerial gunning efforts. However, on 10/5 a black uncollared 125 lb. yearling male was removed. The alpha male will also be removed as soon as weather permits."

"During a routine radio-tracking flight on the 10th, the Sheep Mountain pack (2 adults and 6 pups) was seen feeding on a calf carcass with the cow standing nearby. WS and the rancher were immediately contacted. The WS investigation confirmed the calf was killed by wolves on the FS allotment. Wolf #195, the pack's alpha male, is the last survivor of the 3 Sheep Mtn. wolves that were involved with the WS research on aversive conditioning and then released back into the wild. One wolf accidently drowned last winter and the other was killed this spring after he was involved in a livestock depredation near Mill Creek. Radios will be put on other pack members and then #195, now the only radioed pack member, will be killed as soon as weather and wolf location permit. An attempt to dart and collar a pack member was unsuccessful on the 12th because of high winds."

For more background information on Female #16 and the Sheep Mountain pack please see Part 3 - The Legacy and my other updates.