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Fifth wolf killed in unit north of Yellowstone National Park despite quota • Daily Montanan

Earlier this month, a fifth wolf was found to have been shot in Wolf Management Unit 313, the unit north of Yellowstone National Park where the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission had set a quota of three wolves for this season in part to prevent further disturbance To prevent packs from leaving the national park.

Last Tuesday, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said the fifth wolf was found dead in dense cover within the unit on Nov. 1 from a gunshot wound it likely sustained when four other wolves died on the same day were killed in Unit 313 Oct. 25: The wolf had a tracking collar that displayed a mortality signal during the first week of November, indicating its death and location to officials.

FWP said it believes the fifth wolf was “unknowingly wounded” when the four other wolves – two females and two males – were killed on the morning of Oct. 25. Earlier in the day, no wolves had been killed in WMU 313, but after that morning the FWP announced that the unit would cease hunting 24 hours later.

FWP said based on a visit to the site where the fifth wolf was found and other information, it did not believe the wolf was killed illegally and that the person who shot it did not know it had done. It is a violation of Montana law not to attempt to knowingly recover a wounded animal while hunting.

But all five wolves killed in Unit 313 this year came from one pack in Yellowstone National Park, the 8 Mile Pack, adding to concerns about pack fragmentation after 13 Yellowstone wolves were killed last winter. And in the announcement, at least one wolf advocacy group says the wolf's death is another sign that FWP is more interested in allowing wolves to be killed than protecting them, even in an area where there is a chance of a wolf to see, is a very popular attraction among tourists.

Yellowstone National Park could propose more changes next year

In August, the Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to approve a 2023-24 wolf regulations amendment by Region 3 Commissioner Susan Kirby Brooke that splits WMU 313 back into two units – WMUs 313 and 316 – each with a quota of three wolves.

The two had previously been separated but were combined into one unit with a quota of six wolves for the past two seasons, but commissioners and members of the public who spoke at the meeting said one reason for the change was that 313 is an easier unit to hunt as wolves advance into Paradise Valley. And business owners in Gardiner said they didn't like seeing so many wolves killing near town.

“A lot of these people bring tourists to these areas, and it hurts their business to drive so many wolves out of a small area,” Commissioner Brooke said at the meeting.

Canyon wolf packs in the Lower Geyser Basin; Jim Peacock; February 2015. (Image courtesy of Yellowstone National Park, NPS)

Two separate reports released late this summer found that visitors to Yellowstone National Park supported thousands of local jobs and spent more than $600 million in surrounding communities, mostly coming to see the park's wild animals, including wolves, and thermal facilities can be seen.

Another supporter of the change was Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly, who wrote to the commission this summer saying that 13 Yellowstone wolves were killed last winter, including eight in Montana and six of them in Unit 313. The Thirteen wolves made up about 10% of the winter population of Yellowstone wolves, the letter said, and came from three different packs that have since either broken up or disbanded.

Brooke said in an interview late last week that some people in Gardiner had already contacted her – “rightly upset” – about the killing of the five wolves, so early in the season. Last season the six wolves quota was only reached on December 25th.

“It sounds like several hunters went out together and shot wolves, which is their right,” Brooke said. “And it's unfortunate, I think, because so much work has gone into trying to mitigate the impact on a pack and maybe spread it out a little bit more widely. And you know, it just didn’t work.”

She explained that the quotas are a “target” and not a fixed number that cannot be exceeded, and that it is possible for the quotas to be exceeded in a single day because of multiple hunters in the field might not know anything about the other hunters who had shot an animal.

“My aim was to mitigate the hit to a pack and it could have happened even if we had the odds at six and the old 313. It still could have happened that way,” Brooke said.

Yellowstone National Park spokesman Morgan Warthin said all five wolves killed in Unit 313 were members of the 8-mile pack – two females and three males. Tracking collars were placed on a female and a male – one of whom was the fifth wolf to be found dead – and the two were both about a year and a half old and were shot in the same area, Warthin said. Wolves typically become breeding pairs when they are three to five years old, she said.

A map showing the current WMU 313 (above) and the former WMUS 313 and 316, which will be in effect again for the 2024-25 season. (Image courtesy of the Fish and Wildlife Commission)
A map showing the current WMU 313 (above) and the former WMUS 313 and 316, which will be in effect again for the 2024-25 season. (Image courtesy of the Fish and Wildlife Commission)

Warthin said the 8 Mile Pack started the fall with 25 members. She said in addition to the five killed in Unit 313, three others were missing as observers had only seen 17 of them so far.

Sholly, the park superintendent, said he appreciated the commission last year splitting Unit 313 back into two units with three-wolf quotas, but “that didn't work.” Last week, he told the Daily Montanan the park would likely propose that next year's regulations require issuing tags to wolf hunters in 313 to ensure a limited number of Yellowstone wolves are killed.

“I'm sure this won't make a lot of people happy, but what good is the quota if you go through it every year in different configurations?” Sholly said. “So what I’m hoping for is some constructive conversations about solutions and how we can work together to find the right outcome in terms of configuration.”

He also suggested perhaps having a discussion with the Commission about a common quota for Units 313 and 316. So if five wolves were killed in 313, only one would be killed in 316. He said he wants the park and the commission to continue finding ways to protect Yellowstone's core wolf population.

But he said about 30 wolves from the northern packs have been killed in the last three years, and he wants to make sure there's a focus on the cumulative impact of those deaths on the entire wolf population.

“What’s the point of taking 30 wolves from just a few packs in the northern range?” he said. “I think that’s an important thing to focus on.”

A reward is offered for information about the fifth wolf

Marc Cooke, vice president of the wolf advocacy group Wolves of the Rockies, said the organization is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and capture of the hunter who shot the fifth wolf in Unit 313, although FWP noted that nothing illegal happened.

“This is another asinine statement from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks looking to cover up their incompetence and anti-wolf position,” the group said in a Nov. 6 social media post.

Cooke said he believes there are some outfitters and hunters who are strongly anti-wolves and are trying to kill the animals in an easy-to-hunt area despite quotas and restrictions. He said the FWP under the Gianforte administration has been “complacent” because the government views wolves as a threat to wildlife like elk and livestock like sheep and cattle. Sholly reiterated last week that there have been fewer than 10 livestock thefts by wolves in Park County in the last decade.

“If you shoot an animal and can’t find it, how is that ethical? If you shoot an animal just to kill it and satisfy your irrational hatred of those animals and your bloodlust for those animals, then that's poaching,” Cooke said. “The department has done little to nothing, quite honestly, if you look at all of their actions over the last 15 years.”

FWP spokesman Greg Lemon said the fifth wolf would not count toward the harvest quota because the quota includes legally harvested wolves, and although the wolf's death was caused by humans, it would not count toward the harvest quota.

Like Brooke, he said it is possible for hunters to exceed a quota in a given unit.

“There is no law that is being broken because the quota is our signal to end hunting in the district. “Quotas, per se, do not necessarily represent a catch limit,” Lemon said, adding that some other furbearers, for example, have 48-hour closure periods during which hunting or trapping can also take place once a quota is reached.

Asked whether FWP had had discussions among staff or with the commission about the five wolves killed last week in 313, he said it had not.

The commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday morning to adopt wolf trapping regulations for the season, and while no changes related to Block 313 have been proposed, Brooke and Cooke said they expect to hear from the public about both the trapping regulations and the Hunting regulations heard hunting deaths in 313.

So far this season, which began in early September, 69 wolves have been killed in Montana. In Unit WMU 316, which split off from Unit 313, only one wolf has been reported killed so far.

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