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Re: NPS officially moving forward with introducing new wolves to IRNP
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:08 pm
by Midwest Ed
The 2 instances I remember where a wolf was seen specifically in a campground was the one in Daisy Farm corroborated by park rangers and another one in Siskiwit CG. The Siskiwit CG incident was substantiated with photos of a wolf walking down a campground trail that was aware of nearby people but it stood its ground and did not run off. There are Siskiwit pictures posted here but I was not able to find them via forum search feature (tried wolf or wolves and Siskiwit). These incidents, as well as those posted by by philranger and JerryB above, were within the last 5 to 10 years or so. All something unheard of 20 or 30+ years ago, even more significant considering the pack sizes were much greater back then. My observations are purely anecdotal and not scientific.
Re: NPS officially moving forward with introducing new wolves to IRNP
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:20 pm
by hooky
BlackCoffee's post from 2013, complete with crazy close pictures
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2320&hilit=wolf
Re: NPS officially moving forward with introducing new wolves to IRNP
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 5:55 am
by johnhens
Midwest Ed wrote: ↑Mon Sep 10, 2018 2:08 pm
The 2 instances I remember where a wolf was seen specifically in a campground was the one in Daisy Farm corroborated by park rangers and another one in Siskiwit CG. The Siskiwit CG incident was substantiated with photos of a wolf walking down a campground trail that was aware of nearby people but it stood its ground and did not run off. There are Siskiwit pictures posted here but I was not able to find them via forum search feature (tried wolf or wolves and Siskiwit). These incidents, as well as those posted by by philranger and JerryB above, were within the last 5 to 10 years or so. All something unheard of 20 or 30+ years ago, even more significant considering the pack sizes were much greater back then. My observations are purely anecdotal and not scientific.
Thanks, I guess I had not heard of the Siskiwit sightings. It will be interesting to see if the wolves added are reclusive or seen about.
Re: NPS officially moving forward with introducing new wolves to IRNP
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 10:11 am
by Midwest Ed
Indeed that Siskiwit was interesting or as hooky phrased it "crazy close" (thanks hooky for assisting with the link). For the benefit of my ego, I won't itemize the error I was making in not finding the Siskiwit pictures. My primary assumption in these incidents is the wolf population (or at least some of them) has been slowly losing their fear (or maybe apprehension is a better term) of people. When one observes wolf "rescue" facilities and the proprietors "lounging around" with wolves, it is obvious there is no innate fear trait in wolves that can't be overcome. This is not to say the Isle Royale wolves were on some similar path or worse, a path to where they would begin attacking people. But at the same time it should be said that Isle Royale is a bio-experiment with closed (or maybe closed-in) parameters unlike anywhere else.