HOUGHTON, MICH- Immediately following the end of the government shutdown, National Park Service (NPS) personnel went to Isle Royale to prepare for a potential translocation of wolves from Canada and the 61st annual wolf/moose population monitoring. The extreme cold and weather conditions prevented any successful translocation of wolves from Ontario last week.

Source: Wolf Departs Isle Royale on Ice Bridge – Keweenaw Report

A pair of bills to encourage more people to kill wolves drew spirited debate at the Legislature’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee on Thursday.Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls, said the measures would restore balance to struggling elk and deer populations in his region. Opponents called the changes unnecessary and unethical.Brown’s HB 279 would allow reimbursements for costs related to trapping wolves. His HB 280 would add a discounted wolf license to the resident sportsman combination license package.“The outfitters and guides and people who hunt this entire area for many years — many went home with tags in their pockets this year,” Brown told the committee. “The elk are just not there. That’s what drives this bill. This season, I didn’t see one fresh elk track, but I saw eight fresh wolf tracks.”

Source: Wolf payout bill draws ethics challenge | State and Regional | mtstandard.com

The transfer of up to six wolves from a northern Ontario island where they were starving to the U.S. is getting underway following a weeks-long delay caused by the federal government shutdown south of the border.The small pack, including the alpha male and female, will be moved from Michipicoten Island to Isle Royale National Park, on the U.S. side of Lake Superior, where American officials hope the wolves will help keep the moose population in check.

Source: ‘Large-bodied’ Canadian wolves to help keep U.S. moose population in check | CTV News

Six wolves from Ontario’s Michipicoten Island in Lake Superior will be moved to Isle Royale in coming days thanks to a grant intended to “shutdown proof” the National Park Service effort from future federal budget woes.The $50,000 grant from the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation allowed wildlife agencies from both sides of the border to make plans in recent weeks for the wolf relocation which could happen as soon as there are four straight days of stable, calm weather forecast.The wolves will join three Minnesota wolves brought to the island last fall, all aimed at replenishing the island’s beleaguered native wolf population that had dwindled to just two animals, a male and female unable to successfully mate due to inbreeding and genetic deformities.

Source: Grant allows Isle Royale wolf transplant to advance | Duluth News Tribune

Last April, conservationists were alarmed to discover that the South Selkirk caribou herd, the only surviving population that ranges into the contiguous United States, had been reduced to just three individuals. In the following months, one of the caribou was killed by a cougar, and another disappeared from researchers’ radar due to a tracking collar malfunction. So, in a final-hour effort to keep the herd alive, conservationists have moved the last known South Selkirk caribou into a captive breeding pen, as David Moskovitz reports for Science.

Source: The Last Wild Caribou of the Lower 48 Has Been Placed in Captivity | Smart News | Smithsonian

Ranching, farming and wildlife advocates on the Western Slope are launching Stop the Wolf Coalition to oppose a wolf reintroduction that is building momentum in Colorado.This evening, the group is sponsoring a program on RFD-TV to present the case that wolves present a danger to humans, livestock, pets and wildlife.Richard Connell describes himself as the face of the Colorado Farm Bureau in western Colorado. His role has been in training and developing members to be advocates for agriculture and the issues they believe in.

Source: West Slope anti-wolf coalition forms | AspenTimes.com

WEYAUWEGA, Wis. (WBAY) – DNR wardens continue searching for clues two weeks after a gray wolf was found illegally shot along Highway 10 near Weyauwega.DNR biologists say the adult female likely belonged to a pack in Waupaca County and is further evidence wolf territory in Wisconsin is expanding.DNR Regional Wildlife Biologist Jeff Pritzl says more of Wisconsin has become wolf country.”Just as we’ve seen with black bears in Wisconsin, I guess that line of awareness or that line that goes across the state of where we think that’s normal or unusual has been drifting south with wolves as well.”

Source: Wolves expand their territory in Wisconsin