Tag: gray Wolves

Wolves relocation to Mayureshwar ruled out – Times of India

On By thewolfintelligencerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

PUNE: The conservation of protected wildlife species including the Indian grey wolf may run into trouble as the proposed airport project at Purandar gains momentum. Conservationists said wolves do not fare well after relocation.A forest department official said if biodiversity hotspots around the survey zone were affected, then the wildlife could be relocated to the Mayureshwar sanctuary in Supe around 15 km from the airport site.”Wolves move in packs and have an identified area where they settle. Their relocation could be a challenge considering as the forest department is not fully-equipped to handle such a process. Moreover, wolves do not take well to being relocated,” Mihir Godbole, a Wolf Gang member said.

Source: Wolves relocation to Mayureshwar ruled out – Times of India

Biologists hope to capture, re-collar Rogue Pack’s alpha wolf, OR-7 | Local | Eugene, Oregon

On By thewolfintelligencerIn Northern US, West Coast USLeave a comment

MEDFORD — State and federal biologists are setting out traps nightly in hopes of catching and collaring gray wolf OR-7 or his mate so they can regain the tracking capabilities that ­allowed the world to tag along on his long journey for a mate. Biologists are using padded foothold traps and baiting them with a foul-smelling concoction to capture one of the wolves so they can attach a GPS-emitting radio collar before heavy cold sets in. John Stephenson from the U.S.

Source: Biologists hope to capture, re-collar Rogue Pack’s alpha wolf, OR-7 | Local | Eugene, Oregon

Still no word on how protected Oregon wolf died – Oregon – Capital Press

On By thewolfintelligencerIn Collared Wolves, West Coast USLeave a comment

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to provide additional information Oct. 19. The female wolf was found dead Oct. 6 in the Fremont-Winema National Forest near Summer Lake, Ore. Gray wolves in the western two-thirds of the state remain protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, and killing one is a crime.

IR-28 was the alpha female of the Silver Lake wolfpack.

The wolf’s carcass was taken to the agency’s national forensics lab in Ashland, Ore., for a necropsy, which would determine the cause of death.

Officials have said anyone with information about the case should call USFWS at (503) 682-6131, or the Oregon State Police Tip Line at (800) 452-7888. Callers may remain anonymous.

Fish and Wildlife is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible. The Center for Biological Diversity, which frequently comments on Oregon’s wolf management plan, has said it will contribute $10,000 to the reward fund.

Source: Still no word on how protected Oregon wolf died – Oregon – Capital Press

Balkan wildlife (including wolves) faces extinction threat from border fence to control migrants

On By thewolfintelligencerIn EuropeanLeave a comment

From August 11, 2016 The Guardian

Controversial razor-wire fence put up by Slovenia along its border with Croatia could wipe out local bear, lynx and wolf populations, say researchers

Croatian and Slovenian people protest against the border fence in December 2015

The death toll of animals killed by a razor wire fence designed to stop migrants crossing into Europe is mounting, amid warnings that bears, lynx and wolves could become locally extinct if the barrier is completed and consolidated.

The rising tally of dead roe and red deer is still mercifully small, but contested by local people who claim that it is being systematically under-counted.

Slovenia began erecting the barrier across 180km of its river border with Croatia last winter, as a temporary measure to staunch the flow of asylum seekers, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Inadvertently, it has also created a huge obstacle to animals freely moving across the border in a wildlife rich corner of Europe.

But even though the human migration crisis has dramatically eased, Slovenia’s interior ministry is seeking a change in the law to prevent environmental factors from slowing the barrier’s extension.

A government spokesperson said that while refugee numbers were falling, “there are still more than 57,000 migrants in Greece. The situation in Turkey remains very uncertain after the military coup. There is a political crisis in Macedonia, and an increasing number of migrants are gathering in Serbia, which lacks sufficient accommodation capacities. Also, the number of people travelling the migrant route across the Mediterranean to Italy has increased again.”

While the fence is supposed to be a temporary measure, fears that the crisis could be prolonged were heightened when the government signalled its intent to fence its entire 670km border with Croatia in December…. read more.

 

Wolves of Denali; Visitors decline due to Wolf harvest along border

On By thewolfintelligencerIn Northern USLeave a comment

Denali National Park and Preserve is located in Interior Alaska centered on Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level, in the Alaska Range. The park and preserve cover more than 6 million acres, 4,724,735.16 acres are federally owned national park. The preserve is 1,334,200 acres, of which 1,304,132 acres are federally owned.

Wolf monitoring in Denali NP&P began in 1936, but accurate data on population estimates did not begin until 1986 when David Mech (wolf biologist) and others initiated a large scale study. According to the National Park Service ” The current monitoring program consists of maintaining one or two radio-collared wolves in each known pack inhabiting the park north of the Alaska Range. Radio-collared wolves are located about twice per month, with additional locations during late September to early October to determine fall pack sizes and to count pups, and during March to determine late winter pack sizes.” This monitoring data is used to determine abundance and density of wolves, wolf movement, den locations, mortality factors, behavior and population dynamics.

In a recent study published on PLOS ONE, scientists examined the effects of killing wolves on the boundaries of both Denali and Yellowstone National Parks and the subsequent impact on peak wolf viewing tourism.The study concluded that wolf sightings were “significantly reduced” by killing wolves along park boundaries and adjacent to protected areas. Specifically in Denali National Park, sightings in the park were more than twice as frequent in times with a “harvest buffer zone”, than periods of time without it. Denali has a Wolf Viewing Project which concedes the fact that wolf viewing is one of the primary objectives for visitors to the park. However, in 2010 Denali’s harvest (killing) buffer was eliminated which could have led to the reduction in wolf viewing success from 45% in 2010 to 5% last year.

The issue arises from the fact that wolves travel, their territories are in constant flux and they don’t obviously adhere to the boundaries and borders of protected areas, creating hard to manage transboundary areas and conflicts. It was discerned that although killing certain wolves did not effect population numbers in general,  it could lead to the decline or demise of an entire pack. In a 2014 study that analyzed the “Impacts of breeder loss on social structure, reproduction and population growth in a social canid”, namely Gray Wolves in Denali NP. The study concluded that breeder loss from a wolf pack preceded 77% of pack dissolution during the study period , and that pack dissolution was greater when the loss of a breeder or both breeders occurred in a small pack.

Additionally, in the PLOS ONE  study it was determined that “population size, pack size and den site location were strong drivers of sighting opportunities for wolves within these protected areas. These findings suggest that harvest is likely to have particularly strong effects on sightings when harvest reduces population size or affects breeding behavior within protected regions.” Meaning, when wolves are killed “harvested” or used for “consumptive” purposes during breeding season in and adjacent to wolf viewing and protected areas, there is direct effect on “non-consumptive” viewing for tourists along park boundaries and roads.