Lamar Canyon Family Portrait, Yellowstone

Hunters won. I just received news that the Lamar Canyon Alpha Female, the famous "06" female with collar in the photos in this threat, has just been shot and killed by a Wyoming hunter. What a sad day for wildlife.

Very sad news, and a major defeat for the national parks.

There is talk that some hunters are tracking collared wolves illegally with telemetry equipment.

Legal or not, I am opposed to the killing of animals just for the fun of it, or even under the umbrella of "protecting my livestock". I admit to doing some hunting in my youth, but the older I get, the more sympathy I have for animals. Human efforts to "manage" animals usually fail miserably.

Thanks for sharing these photos. It saddens me to hear of the killings of members of the pack. On our last visit to the park in 2011, we only glimpsed this pack at a great distance -- not close enough for any photos. Now it looks like the pack will be gone when we return for our next visit.

Scott M wrote in post #15353073
Thanks for sharing these photos. It saddens me to hear of the killings of members of the pack. On our last visit to the park in 2011, we only glimpsed this pack at a great distance -- not close enough for any photos. Now it looks like the pack will be gone when we return for our next visit.

There have been tons of outcries and news of the collared wolves kileld have spread around the world. The NY Times and ABCnews.com also picked it up. There was a hearing yesterday in Montana with many people from both sides speakign. There were even hunters who spoke to support a buffer zone around Yellowstone. The upshot of all this is Montana Fish and Wildlife voted 4-1 to shut down hunting and trapping (which has not started yet) in the zones surrounding Yellowstone. So we can all hope for the best.

If you are going to take a position on the killing of wolves then please make it an informed position. Some of us live where these "re-introduced" wolves now live.

Yellowstone National Park has and will continue to benefit from having wolves. The re-introduction program has been very successful - in fact too successful. That is the reason for delisting wolves outside of the core area. That is also the reason for a comprehensive wolf management program.

It is one thing to view wolves from the comfort of a Chicago residence and quite another to have wolves in your backyard.

Like it or not, people kill animals. More animals are killed - cruelly - by well-intentioned people than are killed by hunters. In fact, many populations of animals are made healthier by hunting. This is not my opinion but fact. It is not hard to find that data. I won't look it up for you.

Simply building a house on land causes the death of wildlife. Don't agree? How many wolves now roam the banks of the Chicago River? The primary factor in the loss of wildlife is loss of habitat. Not hunting.

http://web.extension.i​llinois.edu …ory_show.cfm?sp​ecies=wolf

dlpasco wrote in post #15353328
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It is one thing to view wolves from the comfort of a Chicago residence and quite another to have wolves in your backyard.

Actually I just got back from forty tent nights in Montana, from late September until November 1. I didn't see too many other Montana's in the mountains at that time, especially with the snow and sub-freezing temperatures. In fact, I was in Glacier when they closed it down on the east side. I did encounter a few at the local Wal Mart, though.

Mike55 wrote in post #15354773
Actually I just got back from forty tent nights in Montana, from late September until November 1. I didn't see too many other Montana's in the mountains at that time, especially with the snow and sub-freezing temperatures. In fact, I was in Glacier when they closed it down on the east side. I did encounter a few at the local Wal Mart, though.

I spend more time listening to and being near wolves in that state than most people do. I've woken up to wolves howling within a hundred yards of my tent. I've heard them pacing around me in the snowy woods, too. Not once was I afraid of them, because if you look at the science, there's no reason to be.

Wolves are a necessary species, alwyas have been. There are very few wolves in the Northern Rockies, about 1600 before these hunts started. That's 1600 animals over close to 300,000 square miles.

There are many locals who use the wolf as a "venting" symbol, or as something to blame for their poor decisions in life. Thus, you get the largely anti-science actions of the emotional.

There is no scientific reason for shooting wolves in the Northern Rockies. And as we see today, Montana FWP just initiated a buffer around Yellowstone.

Hunters and trappers were the ones who wiped out wolves in the west. Now they're proving the inability to properly manage them once more. I'm not surprised.

As with a great many things, I suspect we agree on more than we disagree. Wolves are a necessary species in Yellowstone. For many decades there was a hole in the predator population and, as a result, prey species proliferated. To manage the population of prey species in Yellowstone, wildlife managers resorted to mass killings. With no hunting allowed there was no good alternative. Wolves are filling that void and a more healthy balance between predator and prey is the result. Of course there is some discord - elk populations outside of the park have plummeted but that may be temporary as the overall health of the elk improves.

I do disagree that wolves were wiped out by hunters and trappers. Wolves were wiped out methodically by farmers, ranchers and even the US Government.

And - sorry about the "Chicago residence" dig. I should have used "urban" as I did not mean to specifically target anyone. The point I meant to make is that wolves are not "people friendly". Grizzlies are not "people friendly". We live in an area where wolves are volunteering to "re-introduce" themselves. We now have wolves here - 200 miles east of the East entrance to the Park. People tend not to be "wolf friendly" when the wolves are in the back yard. Nothing to fear from wolves? Study that one a little bit more closely. I agree - it is not normal for wolves to attack humans but it is not unknown.

Wolves are a welcome addition - from my perspective - to the Yellowstone ecosystem. Not so much when they begin to stray beyond.

And - where do you think most of the money for wildlife management comes from?

Great photos - just look at the conversation they stimulated!