It's Official! It's a Wolf!

Documents recently received from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in response to MWC's Freedom of Information Act request filed by board member Walt Pepperman confirm that the 85 pound canid shot by a hunter on December 19, 2001 in Day, New York was a wolf. The wolf was killed by Russell Lawrence as it and a smaller canid came to feed on a deer carcass set out as bait. It is the first wolf documented killed in New York in more than one hundred years. Several days after Mr. Lawrence killed the animal, he saw another set of large canid tracks in the vicinity but he did not kill this latter animal.

The New York Dept. of Conservation publicly reported at different times that the animal was a coyote and a wolf/dog hybrid in spite of DNA evidence that it was likely a gray wolf. In June of 2003, MWC board member John Glowa reported the animal to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Robert Garabedian of Albany, NY. Agent Garabedian subsequently began an investigation that included confiscation of the pelt and skull because possession of a federally endangered animal is a violation of federal law.  The hunter who shot the wolf was not prosecuted because he claimed he believed the animal was a coyote. (The Pennsylvania hunter who was successfully prosecuted for killing Maine's 1993 wolf reportedly bragged to MDIFW staff that he had killed a wolf.)

According to analyses of the New York animal conducted at the USFWS forensics laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, the "skull is consistent with standards and published craniometrics of gray wolf." According to the DNA analyses, "The (mitochondrial DNA) sequence...was identical to the mtDNA of gray wolf reference standards...(and) the (nuclear DNA) STR genotype...was consistent with gray wolves originating from the Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin area of the United States."

An attempt was made to determine if the animal was of captive origin. Examinations were made of 244 skulls and 113 pelts from wolves kept in the Smithsonian Institution. After comparing the dental tartar and toenail length with those of wild wolves, the researchers were unable to conclude that the animal was formerly held in captivity.

It is likely that the animal or its predecessors came from Quebec or Ontario, rather than the Great Lakes states. The closest wolf populations to New York are just sixty miles from the New York border in Quebec's Papineau Labelle Reserve.  It is not known if USFWS lab analysts compared the animal to known wolves from eastern Canada, but it is not surprising that its DNA matched wolves from the Great Lakes states. Many biologists now consider the wolves of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin to be so-called "eastern wolves" and it is believed that their range extends eastward from southern Manitoba across southern Quebec.

This animal is the second wolf confirmed by the federal government in the northeast U.S. In addition, a probable wolf was killed in Maine in 1996 and an animal confirmed by the Quebec government to be a wolf was killed a few miles from the Maine-New Hampshire border in 2002. A group of canids believed to be wolves is currently living in southern Quebec some 10-20 miles north of the U.S. border and another pack is rumored to exist in Maine's western mountains. In spite of the documented occurrence of wolves south of the St. Lawrence River, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has no current plans to begin developing a recovery plan for wolves in the northeast. According to Charles M. Wooley, Acting Regional Director of the Great Lakes Region, "At this time we believe it would be premature for the Service to take any action regarding potential new recovery programs for wolves in the Northeastern States and adjacent Canada. The U.S. Government has asked the Oregon District Court for clarification on several points of its ruling, and we are awaiting the Court's reply....Furthermore, a ruling is still pending in the similar lawsuit filed by the Maine Wolf Coalition and others in Vermont District Court....When the litigation is fully resolved, the Service will reevaluate the possibility of changing the legal status of, or recovering, a wolf entity in the Northeastern States."   

More Possible Wolves Killed in Quebec and New York

Quebec

In January 2005, trapper Yves Jette of La Patrie, Quebec caught and killed a seventy two pound canid north of Parmachenee Twp. some ten miles from the Maine/New Hampshire border. The area is very wild and remote and is the general location of recent reports of large canid tracks, several moose kills, and a possible pack of wolves. This is the firtst known possible wolf in Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River since the 70 pound wolf killed by trapper Laurent Cloutier in 2002 in Ste. Marguerite de Lingwick, Quebec. That animal was determined to be a wolf after DNA testing was conducted by Quebec wildlife officials. The laPatrie canid is with Quebec fish and wildlife officials for possible DNA analysis. As of this date, the animal has not been tested. MWC has requested a tissue sample from the animal, but our request has not been approved. We have been told by a Quebec wildlife official that we will be notified of the results when they are available. It should be noted that until the killing of the 2002 Ste. Marguerite de Lingwick wolf, Quebec wildlife officials repreatedly denied the presence of wolves south of the Saint Lawrence River.

New York

In April 2005, Sterling, New York resident John Yuhas shot and killed 99 pound canid outside his home after it attacked and killed the family dog. Sterling is located on the south shore of Lake Ontario. Initial reports by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation suggested that the animal was wild because there was no physical evidence that it had worn a collar and its toenails were well worn. Subsequent reports from NYDEC wildlife pathologist indicated that the animal may have been in captivity because it suffered from heartworm and it was “chubby.” It should be noted that heartworm can and does occur among wild wolves across southern Ontario and Quebec, so the presence of heartworm is not an indicator that the animal was a released/escaped captive. To the contrary, if the animal had been held captive and had received proper medication, it would not have developed heartworm. As far as the animal’s weight is concerned, 99 pounds would be large for an eastern wolf, but only slightly larger than 80+ pound wolves killed in New York and Maine. The killing of the animal is being investigated by the USFWS.

In January 2002, a wolf was killed by a coyote hunter in Saratoga County, New York. For more than two years, NYDEC claimed that the wolf was either a coyote or a wolf/dog hybrid. MWC board member John Glowa learned that NYDEC had never reported the animal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and that initial DNA tests had indicated that the animal might be a wolf, so he reported it to the USFWS Special Agent in Albany in 2004. The pelt of the animal was subsequently confiscated by USFWS Special Agents and a tissue sample was sent to the USFWS lab in Ashland, Oregon where it was determined to have come from a wolf.

MWC will be submitting its third Freedom of Information Act request in response to the 2002 New York wolf and its first FOIA request in response to the 2005 animal. We are attempting to get the DNA sequencing which will be used to determine the approximate geographic origin of the animals to aid in determining if they were wild wolves. Maine’s 1993 wolf that was killed north of Moosehead Lake had DNA most closely resembling wolves in and around Ontario’s Algonquin Park. A wolf captured alive in Maine several years ago, that remains in captivity, was found to have originated from British Columbia, Canada.

Viable wolf populations occur in southern Quebec’s Papineau Labelle Reserve just sixty miles north of Massena, New York. Several years ago an ear tagged wolf from Papineau Labelle was killed on Mount Sainte Anne, several hundred miles to the east. Recent measures by the Province of Ontario to protect wolves in and around Algonquin park may promote dispersal of wolves farther and farther from the park in search of unoccupied wolf territories and suitable habitat, both of which are in abundance in northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Alaska's Toklat Wolves

The family of Toklat wolves in Denali National Park, often described as the most photographed and longest studied group of wolves in the world came under attack this winter. Trappers operating just outside the park’s northeastern border first picked off two senior females of the eleven member pack. The alpha male and his mate were separated from each other and from six younger members of the pack for weeks. In February, the alpha female was killed by a trapper and another female was trapped shortly afterward. The alpha male was shot by a hunter in April.

The Toklat wolves have been a unique object of wolf research for nearly six decades. Gordon Haber and other scientists have studied the hunting techniques, mating habits and social interdependency of generations of this group of wolves. Haber himself has followed the Toklat family of wolves for close to forty years. Tens of thousands of park visitors have viewed these wolves for years making them a prime tourist attraction and a national treasure. Trapping the Toklat wolves raises the question of the ethical treatment of animals that for years have lived protected within a national park and have grown accustomed to being viewed by humans.

In late February, at the urging of wildlife preservation groups, three Democratic senators appealed to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, citing a "biological emergency" and asking her to take immediate steps to protect the Toklat family. As of early April, there had been no response.

The Toklat wolves, not as wary of humans as the average wolf, were easy targets for hunters and trappers because of their habituation to people. Haber asked the Alaska Board of Game in February to stop wolf trapping in a narrow area of state land that juts into the national park’s northeastern corner, where the Toklat wolves were wandering beyond the park’s boundaries in search of caribou. The board refused. The board’s chairman stated that Alaska’s wolves are managed for population, not for their safety or livelihood or protection of their complex social structure. State game officials also objected to any increase in the amount of territory protected for wolves on the grounds that too much state land has already been secured by the federal government for wildlife protection. In 1980, Congress set aside 104 million acres of state land for federal parks and refuges. The resulting political resentment has fueled the dominance of conservative Republicans in state and federal positions who for the most part are not advocates for wolves.

Haber takes issue with the practice of sacrificing the complex functional family group instrumental to wolf biology for managing the total area wide population. Furthermore, the Toklat wolves have been viewed and researched for decades as they have trotted up and down a main road in the park. Haber photographed a local trapper as he handled the carcass of the Toklat alpha female and tried to persuade him to stop trapping wolves near the park. He explained to the trapper the value of the pack for many reasons, but the trapper refused to stop trapping. Haber then went to the media and the Board of Game and asked for emergency closure but was without success.

As for any value in keeping the Toklat wolves from dying out, the trapper did not see it. He said, "Wolves come and go…you don’t worry."

In April, the MWC received from Friends of Animals the following article:

Toklat Alpha Male Killed

Gordon C. Haber

April 18, 2005
The alpha male of Denali National Park's famous Toklat family of wolves
- a group that I have studied since 1966 - was shot by a hunter on April 17 in the
Pass Creek area a few miles south of the village of Cantwell. The hunter was
with Cantwell guide Ray Adkins. Adkins called Denali National Park biologist
Tom Meier on Sunday to report the incident and arrange to return the wolf's radio
collar. Meier shared Adkins' report with me via e-mail.

My pilot and I have radio-tracked the Toklat wolves on 31 flights since
February 11, when their trapping-related problems began. The following summary
of what has happened to Toklat is derived from these radio-tracking
observations.

The alpha female was killed by a trapper along the northeast park
boundary on February 11. An unrelated female who joined the group in July
2004 and became the primary attendant of the six new pups was trapped shortly
afterward in the same area. Another wolf was seen dragging a trap on its foot at
about the same time, inside the Toklat territory. This left 8-9 wolves as of late
February - the alpha male and his remaining young from 2003 and 2004.
I observed the male mating with a young female on March 9. Photographic
and other evidence indicates this was most likely a two-year-old daughter
(successful inbreeding is not uncommon in Denali). But the male's attention still
seemed to be focused on his dead mate, with whom he first bonded four years
ago. He continued to return to the trapping area, at times displaying almost obsessive
behavior. One return was only three days after he mated with the young
female. They became separated on March 15 or 16 while in the trapping area.
Turbulent flying conditions did not allow us to see what was happening in detail,
but there was circumstantial evidence that he was caught temporarily in a trap
and the separation followed. The next day he was 11 miles to the southeast,
along the east park boundary, and she was 14 miles to the west, along the north
park boundary.

He continued moving southward along the east boundary, in short segments
and generally acting lethargic. He ended up in Windy Pass on March 24-
30, not far north of Cantwell near the southeast corner of the park, now about 24
miles south of the trapping area. At this point he was with a smaller wolf of unknown
sex and origin, though it was almost certainly not one of the Toklat survivors.
Meanwhile the female returned to the trapping area and remained there
in all of my observations from March 18-26; her behavior strongly suggested that
she was waiting for the male to return and did not know where to go on her own.
She had not eaten at any kill or winter kill in these observations. She finally left
and was 12 miles westward on March 30, 50 miles further southwestward on
April 4, and an additional 12 miles westward on April 6, now in the upper Birch
Creek area, some 40 miles from the established Toklat territory and 75-80 miles
from her mate, the alpha male.

The male went back 11 miles northwestward on April 4 but four days
later reversed his travels and was 16 miles to the southeast, in the GMU 13 wolf
control area near Cantwell, again with a somewhat smaller wolf. The next day,
April 9, my pilot and I watched him running, alone, five miles eastward, stopping
frequently to look back westward, obviously spooked by something. We suspected
that he was running from human activity related to the other wolf's absence
but did not find hard evidence of this. On April 10, he returned eight miles
northwestward to Windy Pass, then on April 11 ended up another seven miles
northwestward, within the park.

On April 12 he was 16 miles west of his April 11 location, back inside the
established Toklat territory for the first time in a month. He had become separated
from his six other young wolves in late February, sometime shortly after he
began returning almost obsessively to the trapping area. He seemed far less
concerned about the young at that time than in finding his dead mate. The young
wolves could hardly keep up with his rapid pace on the first return, for example,
and at one point fell almost a mile behind. Tracks indicated at least 3-4 of the
young were in the same general area of the territory when he returned on April
12, so my pilot and I were optimistic that he might find them and stay. We had
last seen all six of them on April 6, still together and in good condition.
However, on April 14 and 15 he was 15 miles outside the territory again,
back near the east park boundary. On April 15, the six Margaret wolves came
directly to his location (within their territory) from six miles away. There was a
confrontation but no obvious injuries, and they and he departed in separate directions.
He seemed to be headed northward. That was the last time we saw him.
He ended up reversing his direction again and two days later was shot by the
hunter, 20-22 miles to the south.

As of our April 15 flight, the female he mated with on March 9 was still in
the same general western park area. She was attacked by three wolves in that
area on April 10 but without any obvious injuries. She was alone on April 11 and
killed a young caribou a short distance eastward. The next day at least two of
the three wolves that had pummeled her on April 10 were at this kill with her, with
no obvious hostilities. On April 14-15 she was alone again, at another caribou kill
six miles to the northeast.

In short, the decades-old Toklat family lineage has suffered a virtually
complete social breakdown, triggered primarily by the alpha female's trapping
death and the male's inability to adapt. This was undoubtedly exacerbated by his
loss of another mate a month later and of a subsequent companion, possibly another
female, shortly after that. By this time his movements and related behavior
had become truly erratic relative not only to his previous behavior but the normal
behavior of every other experienced alpha male I have known. On the other
hand, I have observed similar behavior on the part of other experienced, highranking
wolves following the loss of a close mate.

The death of the unrelated female who had become their primary attendant
in close sequence with the death of their mother and their father's sudden
change in behavior must have had an especially traumatic impact on the surviving
young. Their separation without any radio collars or suitable tracking snow
has made it next to impossible to conduct adequate follow-up observations.
There will still be wolves in this 600-700 square mile area of Denali National
Park, whether it is the six Toklat young and perhaps the young pregnant
female if she returns from her western location or the smaller neighboring group
that is already moving into portions of the area. There has never been any question
that wolves will be present.

But Toklat's world-class scientific value as a source of information about
the characteristics of a successful vertebrate society - at 40 years or more one of
the oldest-known family lineages of any wild non-human species on the planet -
has been destroyed. Its specific, traditional ways of using this central area of
Denali National Park will have been largely replaced by different, almost certainly
less-adaptive patterns (at least initially) in a highly unnatural way that might be
appropriate for a zoo but not for a national park and an international biosphere
reserve. Whether the survivors or recolonizers will continue Toklat's long use of
the specific denning areas, hunting areas, travel routes, and other spatial patterns
relative to the road corridor that have made these wolves so viewable to
park visitors is unclear. And there remain major ethical issues about doing such
senseless harm to wolves that trust people so naturally in this national park.