Animals, Environment

Famed Denali Wolf Pack Down To Lone Wolf After Hunter Kills Gray Male

The famed Denali National Park and Preserve wolf pack is now down to one lone wolf after a hunter killed her mate when he wandered just outside of the park.  Now, rangers are hoping that the lone black female will have pups, but environmentalists are again calling for the end of wolf hunting, particularly just outside of the park.  She is all that remains of the East Fork pack.  Last year, hunters legally killed a pregnant female and a male. It is incredible that hunting is allowed around such a dwindling and important population, but global calls for the state to curtail hunting outside of the park have been rebuffed.

The male had a radio tracker but hunters looked to be on state lands just outside of the federal park.  We will not know if the last survivor will have pups until early July.  (I will be hiking in the area around that time!)

Denali National Park is home to nine wolf packs, including the Toklat or East Fork pack.  They are a major draw for tourists and an iconic symbol of Alaska.  The East Fork pack has dwindled in the past two years from 14 members.

Due to the refusal of the state to stop the hunting of these magnificent animals, the female is all that remains.  So, to allow a single hunter the joy of shooting a wolf, we could all lose the opportunity of seeing wolves in the wild in this area.  I have long supported hunters in many areas, but there needs to be responsible and balanced rules.

46 thoughts on “Famed Denali Wolf Pack Down To Lone Wolf After Hunter Kills Gray Male”

  4. Schulte,

    I didn’t miss them, they’re just not well documented, recent, or relative. Those stories of wolf attacks are as credible as fairy tales or biblical fables. You have failed to show any factual evidence to bolster your argument, and, ironically, have proven my case.

    Still more ironically is that you appear to be the one who can’t handle the truth, typical of a right-winger, as pointed out by Norm Ornstein. Your reliance on low- and no-informative sources betrays your desperation.

  5. Schulte,

    Delusion, thy name is conservative, although Norm Ornstein points out that conservatives uniformly deny fact-based evidence.

    You’re not just a low-information right-winger, you’re a no-information conservative. The rise of the Know-Nothings is upon us.

    Strip out one account from your wiki article of a documented attack on this continent after 1750 that did not involve a rabid animal. I’ll check back in a couple of days to see how you fare.

    For your sake, I hope you’re in some kind of assisted care situation.

    1. climate change is not real – I am not assuming that wolves only live in North America. You are missing the number of documented attacks in the world. If you can’t stand the truth, just admit it. 😉

  7. Schulte,

    You are Mr. Lo-Info. The only rule you seem to have is to deny factually-based evidence. You nfit Norm Ornsteins description to a T when he described the problem with conservatives and the damage they are doing to our nation and our government. Again, there have been no verifiably documented cases of wolf attacks.
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    Karen,

    wolf attacks are not just rare, they simply don’t occur. In fact, depredation of livestock is a fairly rare occurrence. If it were up to me, I would compensate any rancher for the full market value of any livestock that could be proven to have been taken by wolves.

    Coyotes are a different species, as you know. I encounter literally hundreds each year, some times as close as 15 feet or so, and I’ve never had any problem, but like you I keep my distance.
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    Carl-Edward,

    Speaking of ignoring fact-based evidence, you’re obviously among the conservative herd of Know-Nothings. My interest in protecting wolves has nothing to do with their canine appeal, my interest is in maintaining a supply of clean, fresh water in the West.

    If you scroll up, you can find a video that Karen posted that’s been out for about a year now. It’s short, so you shouldn’t find it too onerous, but I warn you that it is informative.

    Wolves predate on deer, elk, and other ruminants that browse riparian vegetation, primarily willows. That vegetation performs a critical role in protecting waterways from siltation– IOW, the plants keep silt from being washed into the streams and rivers. Silt is bad, very bad, for fish. It is also makes treatment of that water for consumption more costly. If you don’t live out West, keep pretending it’s not true.

    Wolves perform a service that no amount of deer and elk hunting can replicate; they work 24/7, and even when they aren’t successful, they spook deer away from the riparian areas. They also keep herds healthier by taking the sick, old, and wounded animals that hunters eschew.

    Furthermore, and I know this’ll make your head explode but, there is a great deal of scientific evidence that shows that dams in this country are not as productive as once thought and many have been decommissioned in the last 10 years or so, to the benefit of the commercial fishing industry.

    1. climate change in not real – you did not read the Wiki article did you? Denial thy name is liberal,

  8. Does this matter? It is characteristic of this time to sentimentalise vicious beasts – even to put their worth above that of human beings.

    It is people who think like this – the same idiots who want to destroy dams, impede industrial progress and live in filth (some already do: a well-known actress seldom showers because she imagines the earth is burning up), who have contributed to the ruin of this country. Be damned to the lot of them.

  9. Guys:

    Wolf attacks on people are rare but they do happen. Even coyotes attack people occasionally (typically when they’ve been fed and lost their fear of humans.) There are a lot of wolves in the wild, and yet attacks are extremely rare. I’ve had literally hundreds, if not a thousand, interactions with coyotes and never been harmed. That still doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be cautious if one approached too close or exhibited unusual behavior. After all, there’s always rabies. Plus a young adult wolf and a young child would not be a good combination. They don’t know people are dangerous yet.

    Probably the only animal that’s never attacked anyone, ever, is a manatee.

    You can enjoy nature, and wildlife, without anthropomorphizing them. Expect them to be wild, and not act like golden retrievers, and you’ll be fine.

  10. Schulte, You’re hilarious!! Not only is the link you posted to from a disreputable organization (there are taxidermists, hunting guides, and NRA officials on it’s advisory board), but the stories about wolf attacks are unfounded, undocumented , and untrue. Please, examples from the 1500’s?

    I don’t know what’s more pathetic, the link itself, the fact that you searched for such a link, or the fact that you believe the claims made in the link. Either way it’s LOL funny. You and Lisa N. should think about doing a podcast.

    Your friend is on the right track…every claim of (wolf attack) is a hoax until proven otherwise.

  11. Schulte, There is no evidence of wolves attacking people other than some Jack London stories. I await your claims of an ad hominem attack for pointing that out

  12. Karen, That’s the same advice I get from several San Diego surfer dudes who go to Hawaii often.

  13. Paul, We’re thinking of parlaying Glacier to another trip to Banff and Lake Louise. We flew into Calgary and drove to those great Canadian destinations. Would like a return trip.

    1. Nick – make sure you do the Going To The Sun Highway using the old touring cars. Both the cars and the road were designed for them. Dress warm. When we got to the top it was -14 and it was the middle of July. There was still 10 feet of snow on the peaks.

  14. I suspose the next or current president could expand the the boundaries of Denali’s six million acres (9,374 square miles of which 6,668 square miles are wolf habitat) and make the entire state of Alaska a National Park or declare a National Park national emergency? Would that make a Law Professor from Chicago  (234 square miles) happy?

    P.S. “Due to the refusal of the state to stop the hunting of these magnificent animals…we could all lose the opportunity of seeing wolves in the wild in this area.”

    I can see your point on the margins in that senitimate Mr. Turley but you might be trespassing a little bit. Besides, when is the last time Alaskan’s were getting all up in your busisness in Chicago about park boundaries or telling you what to do with your guns or how to license trappers?

    That all being said Alaska and Chicago do have their fair share of apex preditors and tourists.

    So, perhaps Alaska and Chicago could and should learn from each other when it comes to apex preditors and tourism?

    Alaska hosts approximately 1.96 million tourists within its 663,300 square miles annually and is home to an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 wolves more any other state in the union.

    Chicago hosts approximately 50.2 million tourists annually within its 234 square miles and is home to an estimated 150,000 gang members, more than any other city in the union.

    Wolves have never been threatened or endangered in Alaska even though they kill each other for various habitat and dominance reasons, once in a while, when they are not busy killing other four legged mammals for lunch.

    Gang members in Chicago also seem to have never been threatened or endangered and also seem to have a tendency to kill each other for various  habitat and dominance reasons, once in a while, when they are not busy accidentally or purposefully killing other two legged mammals for lunch money.

    Just a thought, but perhaps – seeing as how you are a famous law professor from Chicago who has staked out some expertise in executive power and other forms of federal overreach – you and your city leaders might be able to fill in the leaders of Alaska on just how you are able to go about managing your apex predator populations and still keep the tourists happy without interfering with the locals right to go about their busisness and make enough of a living to have something to eat.

    P.S.S. I know Alaskans will keep on buying those Tootsie Rolls and even that Equal Sweetener stuff you guys manufacture in Chicago and we will certainallly keep buying them bulldozers from CAT and John Deere to keep you and the world in enough minerals and precious metals to build cool stuff, even if CAT and Deere are based in PeoriaI and Moline.

    By the way, I hope you had a chance to check out the three day International Luxury Outerwear Expo this last April at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago and support some trappers from Alaskan and other states that still alow that “barbaric” and traditional practice? Because last time I checked some Alaskans still do more than than guide tourists when they are not putting oil in a pipeline and killing fish for export.

    Anyway if you missed it you should definitely mark the International Luxury Outerwear Expo on your calander next year. They showcased all kinds of renewable products like goose down and precious fibers like cashmere, as well  products like fur of beaver, fox, coyote, raccoon, muskrat, nutria, rabbit, and weasel, as well as luxury fur like sable, chinchilla, lynx, and wolf. Not to mention some damn fine hats, full pelts, reversible products and more.

    But if you aren’t able to make it to the expo next year, due to speaking conflicts or educating the next generation of great legal minds, be sure to stop by Alaska’s only member of the House of Representatives office next time you are in DC. You two will have lots to talk about as he shares nany of yiur concerns regarding the federal government  and if you get lucky he just might hook you up with a wolf pelt. But if not, mabey he will let you pet the one hanging on his office wall…

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