Yellowstone wolf pop. down

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The wolf population for Yellowstone National Park has declined for a second consecutive year, park officials announced Tuesday. Officials said they expected the decline, calling it “natural.”

The Yellowstone wolf population for 2009 was 96 to 98 wolves, according to the Yellowstone Wolf Project, a nonprofit that funds projects to protect and enhance wildlife diversity in the park. Those numbers were down from 124 wolves recorded in 2008, or a decrease of 23 percent. There have been four declines since wolves were reintroduced in 1995, the YWP reported.

Officials say the most recent decrease is no cause for concern, and that the populations of all species living in Yellowstone fluctuate. Biologists believe the decline was due to wolf-on-wolf killings, malnutrition and mange. The greatest decline occurred in the northern range, where the population decreased from 68 to 58 wolves.

Previous population declines were associated with the viral disease known as canine distemper, though biologists have found no evidence of it in the most recent decline.

Six breeding pairs, or a male and female with two surviving pups, were counted last year. That is the lowest that future population indicator has been since 2000, the year when the wolf population first met a minimum for federal protection delisting.

“Wildlife biologists affirm that the Yellowstone wolf population has recovered,” the park’s public affairs office said in a statement. Biologists look at population data over time to understand how disease and social dynamics impact the wolf population.


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Yellowstone wolf pop. down | Planet JH News Article: General News

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