Only Three Wolves Are Left in This National Park

[Omaha Steve]

Michigan’s Isle Royale is down to just a few wolves, leaving moose to eat the park bare.



(Photo: Courtesy IsleRoyaleWolf.org)


http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/04/27/there-are-only-three-wolves-left-national-park

April 27, 2015 By Taylor Hill

Taylor Hill is TakePart's associate environment and wildlife editor.

In 2009, there were 24 wolves left in Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. By 2013, there were nine.

This year, there are only three.

“This is worse than I thought the worst-case scenario for the wolf population would be,” said wildlife ecologist Rolf Peterson, one of two researchers at Michigan Technical University who conducted this year’s field study, in February.

They recorded only three wolves on the island: two adults and one nine-month-old pup, traveling together. The pup did not look healthy, said Peterson, with a hunched back and a curlicue for a tail—most likely the result of third-generation inbreeding.


(Photo courtesy IsleRoyaleWolf.org)

FULL story at link.

Taylor Hill is associate editor, environment and wildlife at TakePart. Taylor has covered issues involving marine habitat, harbors and beaches for the Orange County Register, The Log News, and Sea Magazine.

[shenmue]

1. ...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. What's happening here is very sad and I don't know what can be done about it. n/t

[safeinOhio]

3. About the only thing they could do is

introduce some new genes into the population of wolfs. They decided years ago to leave it to nature.

[longship]

4. My home state. A little about Isle Royale.

Isle Royale is in the midst of Lake Superior. Access only by boat (sometimes by plane) if they let you go there. It is one of the more pristine of the National Parks, mainly because of its inaccessibility. It is the only National Park in Michigan.

The official site: Isle Royale National Park

The Wiki: Isle Royale

Maps:

[postulater]

6. It is a beautiful place.

When camping there back in the 80s a wolf walked right up to our campsite checking us out. We walked right past moose along the trail.

It is a great place to hike.

[postulater]

5. The moose - wolf relationship on Isle Royale has always been in flux.

Then something remarkable happened. In 1997 a wolf from Canada walked across the frozen ice bridge that had formed that winter. We had known his identity all along - he was the “old grey guy,” alpha male of Middle Pack during their most successful years. He was physically large and light in the color of his coat (see image below).

Through the analysis of DNA obtained by collecting scat, the “old grey guy” became wolf no. 93. And through that genetic analysis, we learned that no. 93 was not a native Isle Royale wolf, but instead an immigrant from Canada. He represented a badly needed infusion of new genes. Within about five years of his arrival, the inbreeding coefficient for Isle Royale wolves dropped well below 0.2 (See graph below).

http://www.isleroyalewolf.org/data/data/home.html

[jimlup]

7. I hiked the length of the Island in the summer of '13

We spent a total of 5 days on the Island. No wolves but lots of evidence of moose.

[Egnever]

8. Never mind

Should have read the article.

[whathehell]

9. Very cool pics, especially the first. n/t

[marym625]

10. This is really sad

[Brickbat]

11. Nature is tough.