This is the first of two wolves released this week at Isle Royale National Park as part of a recovery operation/NPS, Jacob W. Frank
Moving quickly now that formal approval has been received to prevent Isle Royale National Park's wolf population from blinking out, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released two wolves at the park.
The release Wednesday, coming less than a week after park officials announced their intent to see six wolves brought to the remote island in Lake Superior this fall, saw a 4-year old female and a 5-year old male set free after being flown to the park by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The wolves were then carried to separate release sites away from the public and the territory of the two resident wolves, a park release said Thursday.
"It did not take long for the female to leave the crate and begin exploring her new home on the island. The male left his crate after dark. Other wolves will join the two in the coming weeks," the release added.
“We have been planning this relocation operation with our partners and are very pleased with the progress so far,” said Isle Royale Superintendent Phyllis Green. “Releasing these two wolves on the island is the first step to restoring the ecological dynamic in the park. The assistance of all our partners is critical to the success of this effort.”
The NPS is collaborating on the recovery project with the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Minnesota, and multiple NPS units.
The male and female wolves came from different pack territories on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota. Both wolves received medical examinations by Park Service wildlife veterinarian Michelle Verant and wildlife veterinarian Tiffany Wolf of the University of Minnesota before they were transported to the park. Both were found to be in good condition and apparently healthy. Each wolf weighs approximately 75 pounds and has a thick coat of light tan, gray, and white fur with black markings, which is typical of gray wolves in the region. The wolves were vaccinated and fitted with GPS collars.
The goal for this fall is to translocate up to six wolves from the Minnesota and Michigan mainland to the park. This is the first phase of a three- to five-year effort to relocate up to 20-30 wolves to the isolated island park. Researchers recommended this number of wolves to establish adequate genetic variability to help accomplish the overall goal of restoring predation as a key part of the ecosystem on the island. The NPS plans to monitor ecological conditions and other factors, such as predation rates, genetics, moose-wolf ratios, and terrestrial and aquatic vegetation impacts to evaluate project success.
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Comments
It's about time. This should have been done years ago. The exicting wolves on the island had lost their genetic diversiy many generations back and desperate;y needed new specimens.
One of the programs the park service puts on for visitors of Isle Royale is a talk on unique species. This is the fact that "island effect" is in full force on the island and creates slightly different species. This "survival of the fittest" island effect on the island is what has created a huge swath of unique species. The island of Australia is on the far end of the spectrum BUT small island like Isle Royal do most certainly contribute to those unique species. The fact that leaving moose, balsam and wolves alone would most certainly create moose that survive on balsam and unique balsam trees that survive over browsing is most certain. It is disgusting that these so called "scientist" care more about "wolves" then they do scientific discovery and study of the island effect. It is disgusting to waste federal dollars on this hogwash ........ greedy biologist asked for this ..... when is the public going to wake up. The moose most certainly have seen worse. And this same bologist had no poblem letting the moose starve back in the 1990 when the wolves still couldn't control them!
One of the biologist that has profited from wolves being on isle royale wrote is quoted saying "Isle Royale is the last place on the planet where you have a forested ecosystem, a wolf population and moose population where none of them are exploited by humans," If this isn't exploitation I don't know what is!