https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...e-royale-national-parks-oldest-gray-wolf

HOUGHTON, MICH. (AP) — The oldest gray wolf at Isle Royale National Park has been killed — apparently by newcomers to the Lake Superior island chain, officials said Friday.

The 12-year-old male was one of two survivors that remained when officials decided to relocate wolves from the U.S. and Canadian mainland to rebuild the dwindling population.

His body was found in October. A necropsy showed it had been attacked by fellow wolves, park officials said in a statement.

The fate of the other other island-born wolf, a 10-year-old female, is unknown.

“She is the final native wolf, never radio-collared, and searching for her will be a priority” for biologists during their annual winter study at the park, said Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University.

Another female — one of the animals taken to Isle Royale beginning in fall 2018 — also died in recent months from wounds inflicted by one or more wolves.

“These events are not uncommon as wolves defend and establish their territories and social hierarchy,” the park statement said.

The current population includes eight males and seven females. Researchers monitoring the other wolves' radio collars say they are feeding, traveling and sleeping near each other in various combinations, although none of the groups yet meet the scientific definition of a pack

Tragic

Ahhhh. Sarcasm

Good Wolf.........

Live by the canine, ....

Awesome

Those new wolves must be from Chicago.

How many tax dollars?

Big bad wolf!

They called him Roy

15 more to go

That's the way most wolves die.....nothing new here other than the dollars expended.

Bummer

What wonderful news!

Hahaha. Fo sho.

lol

Ban all young wolves! First, we'll just have them submit to registration, only so we know who and where they are...nothing nefarious, mind you.

Did the young wolves that killed him use a “Creedmoore” ?

And how many wolves had that old dog killed in his lifetime?
Colossal waste of money that island.
I saw two this morning while calling here, nothing worse than scoping them and not being able to pull the trigger.

Osky

Wildlife living wild. The way it goes, I guess. It's great that we have national parks so wildlife can be studied. Strange that so many supposed outdoor enthusiasts are anti-nature. GD

We are not anti-nature. We are anti-government intervention in nature. If creation is true humans were created at the top. If evolution is true we evolved to the top and became the top predator. If there were fewer wolves and mountain lions and coyotes I might get two deer tags per year and better than a 4% chance at elk hunting success. If that sounds self center, it is!

Ya, studied ... right.

Nothing more than left-wing know-it-alls, living off taxpayer funds, telling us deplorables what should, or should not take place on our public lands.

F’ ‘em all

We have to ban wolves! They're killing our wolves!

Millennial wolves killing the pack’s Boomer. Nothing new to the animal world. Could unfortunately happen in the human world if given a chance.

The other thing I find interesting is that the very same people who hate the idea of spending money studying wildlife, have no trouble with the concept of spending taxpayer's money to support non-productive corporate structure.
Supposedly (and it is very questionable), we also evolved the ability to reason and understand the ramifications of our choices. What possible harm is there in establishing national parks to preserve wildlife and habitat for the education of future generations? Teddy Roosevelt thought it made sense. Or, what the hell, let's get rid of that crap and do something that will make some money. National Parks are moving that way by selling out to private contractors. Should be great. Maybe they will have the presence of mind to get rid of those wolves, coyotes, bears, alligators and predatory birds. Instead, they can develope some kind of cash crop. For sure they can charge the American people a lot more money to visit their own parks. Good stuff. GD

Nature doing what nature does. I also don’t understand the hate. We, meaning man (us), stepped in and decided to manage the wildlife along time ago. That argument fell on its face about the time Lewis and Clark met the Chinook on the Columbia. 😉. We have a hand in every aspect of “wildlife management”, good or bad we own it. I like being in wild country where bears and wolves live. I’d rather hear a wolf howl than a siren wail. Properly managed predators serve a useful place in nature.

I thank God men like Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir had the foresight they had and the influence they had to affect “change” by halting “progress” in certain magical places like Yellowstone and Yosemite, Grand Canyon, etc lest they be covered from rim to rim in condos and hotels with million dollar views. I suppose they saw how fast man’s progress in the east left little regard for the landscape, thankfully they were empathetic enough to care for some of our countries most beautiful and unique places, our shared wonders of nature.

There’s a lot of real estate out there that needs to be occupied before those gates get open......

Uhh...............Ok.

Probably too ratty to make a decent parka ruff.

LMFAO. 😂

Merry Christmas to you and yours. 👍

Right back at ya!

Not against wolves. Against their being used as surrogacy for other political ends. The YNP wolves are used to shill for expansion of the Park's policies to adjacent landscapes and, of course, the other wildlife. Never mind that wolves DO in fact act against ungulate populations as poachers would in an otherwise-regulated population with managed harvest. Like taking 75 percent of annual production from any given ungulate population in a given region.
In areas where hunting is prohibited or impractical, I'm fine with wolves doing their thing. Be nice to have some around Estes Park, for example. But wolves have really eaten into the deer hunting around here, it's night and day from say, 2004.

A dead wolf is a good wolf.

We hunters are not against wolves in the national parks or grizzlies for that matter. But the problem is the government does not allow controlling them when they venture onto private property and
destroy live stock and game animals.

if there where no "intervention"....when it comes to any wildlife....mankind would kill it all...…...bob

I like wolves. To a point. Would not want a world without them. Was once completely surrounded and shadowed from a few yards in heavy cover by a pack of 5 or 6. Were the dog and I being stalked? Were they just curious? Have no idea, but the result was a pelt on my wall downstairs.

A few years back the lupus lovers got a "buffer zone installed around Denali Park, as some of the Park wolves were getting trapped or shot when they ventured beyond the Park boundry.

A few years later, they were back to F&G to expand the buffer boundry for the same reason.

Not only was that defeated, F&G eliminated the original buffer zone .


Be careful what you ask for.....

Unlike Estes Park, it is a fair dog paddle to Minnesota from Isle Royal. Moats work pretty well and so far the ferry service has refused to sell them tickets.

Too bad all of Michigan's wolves aren't on Isle Royal--would be happy to take up a collection for them in spite of want the moose think.

Osky maybe you could clip the males nuts with a grazing shot. Neutering would be a method of slowing them down on siring pups.

Game Wardens keep a close eye on them around here they have microchips. So I hear. An EMT from the nearby Indian Reservation told me Wolves never kill people. That seems hard to believe. Never say never.

Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages Paperback – January 1, 2007
by Will N. Graves (Author), Valerius Geist (Editor)


A wolf do what a wolf has to do....

I can like and appreciate wolves.
But this continued effort to restore a sustainable wolf population to the island seems a bootless errand.

Departures via the occasional ice bridge and current population(s) killing the FNG's aren't going to be circumvented.

And if they insist in continuing the effort, the very least they could do to raise some of the funding via lottery for a few moose to be taken by hunters each year.
But, heck, why would they want to get sportsmen (and women) involved and in support of something like that?

Old wolves lives matter!

"The current population includes 8 males and 7 females." Sounds like a recipe for conflict to me. Same as U.S. Navy ship crew boys to girls ratios nowadays, except the navy ratio is skewed way worse on the male side of the ratio.

this! over and over . just like the millions wasted for the salaries of the House. waste.

Alaska had a gov here, Tony Knowles, that unilaterally shut down predator control in the entire State and turned it into a predator pit virtually statewide. he was in office from '94 to '02 and it was late in his terms when he shut things down. We are still in the Good Old Days of AK Bear Hunting, but enough wolves and bears have been killed to make a huge difference. We went from good moose hunting to horrible moose hunting and back to decent hunting since he left.

Bear populations are still high, we see and hear lots of evidence of wolves every year, but they are not killing every calf anymore.

Need to send a pack of mountain dogs to Isle Royale...........

Hmmmm. My place here is a family place from 70 years ago. We always had wolves. Then with protections they exploded and first the moose suffered. We had plenty now their gone. Our deer herd in my area has been devastated. Too many wolves mean fawns and calves have little hope, with bears and cats in the mix as well.
As for that worthless rock out in that pond there isn’t a darn thing natural about it. Put moose on there and they eat themselves out of house and home and starve. Put wolves out there and they kill moose until none are left and the wolves starve out. Add some interbreeding just for laughs and and the wolves die off sooner. Then scientists add animals and do it all again looking for a different result.
Frustrating part is the increase in wolves on that rock knocks down the moose but in the rest of Minnesota it’s climate change that is to blame, but no climate chang on that rock? They need wolves?
It’s all a costly joke.

Osky

Spot-on, Osky....spot-on.

Osky, good synopsis but you are making way too much sense.

Thanks, I’m not often accused of that.

Osky

That's exactly the M.O. of the Nazi Park Circus and USF&W goons in Alaska.

I agree with Osky—its a worthless rock in the middle of nowhere—let the tree huggers have it.
I’ve been there a couple of times—went for the late trout fishing—i could still do that but find it unnecessary.
Nobody loves wolves more than me—they are fascinating animals—i would bet there are very few posters on here who have killed as many as i have.
I’ve learned a lot about wolves from that study—read the first paper on it by Mech in 1967. The new study being done in Voyagerous National Park is likewise fascinating. Ive read most of Giest’s work also—really good summations about wolf attacks.
Wolves have always existed in the Boreal forest—never in any danger of extinction there. Never in any danger of extinction in that part of Minnesota that is Boreal.
Wolves don’t belong in Wisconsin nor Montana nor on the Great Plains for the exact same reason they don’t belong in Central Park in NYC.

Wolves are part of things and we have had them here all my life. They have simply become too many in northern MN and done terrible damage to the deer and moose.
Putting the fear of man back in them will at least knock back the hours they feel comfortable hunting. All to often I see them crossing the lake here mid morning and later. There was a time here the wolves were heard and seldom seen. The moose and deer did just fine. They will never be exterminated in this bush without poison and will be here long after we all are gone much to the delight of the uninformed who will never see one in the wild or understand the damage an uncontrolled apex predator can do.

Osky

If you spend a week or two living out on a rock like that in the lake or for that matter out on a rock in Nipigon you might have a glimpse into the difference what climate change is all about. That's IS a whole different climate and will be one of those places in the middle of a continent like this to see and be changes by the climate that affects the rest of us. That "pond" is a huge amount of very cold water. Just like Nipigon. Pretending that the climate on those islands is not different goes beyond ignorant. Were you to try going naked on both the island and ashore on either Nipigon or Superior, you'd stand a good chance of death. Death would be by very different causes though depending on the time of year. Summertime, inland, the bugs are capable of more than just nuisance. Disease and just weakening due to blood loss are real inland. Out on the islands bugs just aren't a problem. I've weathered a blizzard out on Nipigon in June. Snowed so damn hard I couldn't see 50 feet, cold enough to make is out of spray. The same June in which the mosquitoes were so bad getting dressed to make the trip out onto the lake were so thick that swatting ten at a time on any exposed flesh was normal.

Isle Royale is a national park noted for specific attractions. Two of which are wolves and moose. No researcher has made the case that either of those two are representative of their species and their environments on the mainland. The moose on Isle Royale seem to mostly stay put. The wolves likewise most years. The moose in Nipigon freely travel more or less when they want, the wolves, not so much. They can't handle 35 degree water.

Moose decline in particular in Minnesota is neither atypical nor all that unusual. It's happened before and will happen again. Likewise for deer. Likewise for wolves, snowshoe hares, lynx, bobcats fox Etc.

If we are experiencing climate change, and it takes a whole 'nother level of ignorance to deny that is happening regardless of the cause, then species dependent on the "normal" climate and thus climate dictated environment is not part of what is going on.

Places like Isle Royale and the effects seen out there can teach us a lot about why some of what we see is happening if we are open to looking.