Female #9, Soda Butte Pack,
Sheep Mountain Pack

Female #9 is still believed to have bore a litter of pups although this has not yet been confirmed. She was spotted several miles away from her original den site during one recent fly-over and it has now been officially confirmed that she has moved her den to a new location.

An official pup count won't be completed until mid to late summer, although we are all expecting an initial count to be released soon.

Many of the packs have dens in heavily timbered areas making aerial observations extremely difficult. It will be easier to obtain accurate pup counts once the packs begin to gather at their respective rendezvous sites.

The most recent news is that #9's new den is located in a heavily wooded area making any aerial observations nearly impossible. No one knows just how many pups #9 has, but it appears that she most certainly does have pups!

Also, there is definitely an unidentified large gray male with #9. Both have been observed hunting within a few miles of the den site. The male is uncollared and could be a disperser from one of several packs.

If #9 and her new mate stay together they will be counted as a new and completely separate pack from the originally named "Valentine pack."

The other three members from that pack are still together and headed by Alpha female #153, (#9's daughter) and Alpha male #164, the son of hard luck female #16, the now "captive" Alpha of the Sheep Mountain pack.

Unfortunately, Alpha male #164 was last observed limping badly and he appears to have severely injured his front leg. No one knows the cause of this injury.

Male #164 was born in 1998 and had dispersed from the Sheep Mountain pack last fall. If he recovers from this very serious injury he will be one of only two surviving offspring of female #16 to remain alive and free.

The pup that surprised everyone when it was spotted outside the den of the Soda Butte pack last week is believed to be the offspring of female #126.

Female #126 was born to (recently) deceased Alpha female #14 and deceased Alpha male #13 (Old Blue) in 1997.

Since that first sighting 8 more pups have been observed with the Soda Butte pack. This is wonderful news for the future of the pack.

Some earlier information that I received on deceased Alpha female #14 was incorrect. No one knows for certain if #14 was in fact pregnant when she died from wounds inflicted by a moose. Her body was never recovered due to severe decomposing.

All decisions pertaining to the Sheep Mountain pack are now in the hands of Ed Bangs, wolf recovery team leader for the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.

Meanwhile, Wildlife Services is still attempting to capture the two remaining pack members. Both are believed to be the offspring of female #16.

The whereabouts of adult male #118 are not known. He seems to have just disappeared. And because #118's collar came off some time ago, he can no longer be tracked.

His absence may explain the pack's drop in numbers since last count which was in early winter.

The four members of the Sheep Mountain pack captured on May 25th are now at Turner's Flying D Ranch. They arrived on Thursday, June 8th.

The two remaining pack members, a male and a female are not traveling together anymore. The male has not been seen in almost three weeks. Efforts to capture the collared female are still underway.

Hopefully the uncollared male has disappeared into the vast wilderness and providing he remains "invisible" and stays away from livestock, will be the only member of his pack to have escaped this control action.

Well, no one can say that Ed Bangs is not a man of his word. He ordered Wildlife Services to shoot the collared female on June 23rd after attempts to capture her were unsuccessful.

I was hoping against hope that this lone female yearling might be permitted to remain free if she could not be captured, in spite of what Ed Bangs had originally stated.

But of course, a last, merciful reprieve would have gone against everything that those in charge of wildlife management stand for.

I am deeply saddened by what has been done to this pack. Saddened and sickened.