Wolves - Eating
Wolves expected to kill 1,800 elk, moose, deer and bison
160 wolves each are expected to eat nine pounds of meat a day.
By Rachel Odell, Jackson Hole News 1-06-99
Federal biologists expect that the wolves in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem will kill about 60 percent more elk, moose deer and bison thiswinter compared to last year.
About 160 adult-aged wolves will fan out from Yellowstone National Park this winter, said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Adult wolves eat about nine pounds of meat a day, which averages to about 12 adult elk per year, Bangs said.
When wolves were first reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, biologists predicted that a recovered population of about 100 would kill about 1,200 big game animals a year. About 160 adult wolves will kill and eat approximately 1,800 big game animals a year, Bangs predicted. That is an increase of 50 percent.
The effect on wildlife populations should not be noticeable for several years, he said. Further, hunters should not notice a significant decrease in hunting opportunities, he said.
"A lot of people worry that the wolves will hurt hunting," Bangs said. "The fact is wolves tend to kill the old, sick, weak, and stupid."
Wolves will most likely not increase kills on ungulate herds on which they already prey, he said. Instead, as more wolves colonize the ecosystem, they will begin preying on other herds. The wolf expansion may reduce hunter harvest of female ungulates, Bangs said. Bull populations should not be affected because most wolves will only kill a bull if it is sick or wounded, he said.
Wolves are predicted to reduce elk populations by between five to 30 percent. Likewise, the animals could reduce deer herds by three to nine percent and moose herds by seven to nine percent.
The Fish and Wildlife Service released Canadian grey wolves into Yellowstone in 1995 as part of a wolf reintroduction program. The wolves are listed as "non-essential experimental" under the Endangered Species Act. That means that wolves can be killed for repeatedly killing livestock on public or private land. A livestock owner can legally kill a wolf caught in the act of attacking livestock. This right was intended to soften the effect of reintroduction , Bangs said.
Before reintroduction began, a vociferous opposition that fought to keep wolves out of Yellowstone. That opposition nearly halted reintroduction in 1995 when, days before the wolves were to be released from their acclimation pens, the American Farm Bureau won an injunction in federal court that prevented biologists from releasing the wolves.
U.S. District judge William Downes ruled the wolves were reintroduced illegally and ordered the removal of all wolves. He stayed his order pending appeal, and biologists released the wolves into the park.
The appeal has not yet been decided, but Bangs said he expects a decision soon.
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