Washington: outcry after last four wolves in pack killed by state hunters

Environmental groups called deaths of wolves that had killed or wounded cows since 2018 ‘unbelievably tragic’

The last four members of a wolf pack that preyed on cattle in a rural Washington state area bordering Canada have been killed by state hunters, prompting protests from environmental groups.

The four wolves were part of a pack that originally had seven members and attacked cows, killing or wounding them 29 times since 2018 and nine times over the last month, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement.

Environmental groups opposed the killings, which they contended benefited one ranching operation in Ferry county in the remote Kettle River Range of mountains that stretches into the Canadian province of British Columbia.

“It’s unbelievably tragic that this wolf family has already been annihilated by the state,” said Sophia Ressler of the Center for Biologicial Diversity, which tried to block the hunt. “It seems like Washington’s wildlife agency is bent on wiping out the state’s wolves.”

Hunters for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife who were inside helicopters tracked down and shot the wolves from the air on Friday, said Sam Montgomery, an agency spokeswoman.

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Wolf-dog 'swarms' threaten Europe's wolves

Date:  May 23, 2019

Source:  University of Exeter

"Swarms" of wolf-dog crossbreeds could drive Europe's wolves out of existence, according to the lead author of new research.

Such hybridisation -- driven by human activities that destroy habitats and mean wolves encounter more and more free-roaming dogs -- threatens the "genetic identity" of wolves.

The study compares the views of more than 40 scientists and warns that a lack of engagement and agreement could hamper efforts to tackle wolf-dog hybridisation.

The findings suggest most scientists agree on the nature of the problem, but are divided on how to deal with it.

"We need to address this issue before wolf-dog hybrids backcross with wolves to the extent that wolf populations will be lost to hybrid swarms, and the conservation of wild populations will become unfeasible," said lead author Valerio Donfrancesco, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

"In this paper, we argue that scientific agreement is crucial to encourage decision-makers to act, and to raise awareness about this conservation issue in society at large.

"The fact that we know so little about the ecology, behaviour and social acceptance of the wolf-dog hybrids adds a layer of concern to the issue."

The study, which allowed scientists to share their views anonymously, revealed agreement that people should be educated about the impact of free-roaming dogs, and that governments should remove wolf-dog hybrids from small and recovering wild wolf populations.

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The return of the wolves

MAY 20, 2019

by University of Freiburg

The current return of wolves to human-dominated landscapes poses a major challenge for the protection of this species, says conservation biologist and private lecturer (PD) Dr. Marco Heurich from the University of Freiburg. He emphasizes that conflicts arise around the conservation of wolves in these landscapes due to farm animal slaughter, competition with hunters and human protection. The question of how humans can coexist with predators triggers a strong emotional debate. Based on these observations, a team of scientists led by Dr. Dries Kuijper from the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences analyzed the existing knowledge on how to deal with large carnivores living in the wild in Europe and other parts of the world. The aim was to enable an objective, scientifically sound discussion of various scenarios of wolf management. The researchers have presented their results in the current issue of the scientific journal Biological Conservation.

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Isle Royale winter study: 13 new wolves, 20 radio-collared moose

PRIL 30, 2019

by Kelley Christensen, Michigan Technological University

Michigan Technological University's 2019 Isle Royale Winter Study focuses on the implications of newly introduced wolves and the movements of newly collared moose.

Fifteen wolves. 2,060 moose. Extensive ice and deep, powdery snow. Michigan Tech researchers have released the annual Winter Study report. In its 61st year, the study is the longest running examination of a predator-prey relationship in the world.

The report chronicles the four-week research expedition to the island, where researchers track—by ski and plane—wolves and moose, collar moose, and catalogue the cascading effects of an ecosystem that has lacked a healthy population of apex predators for a number of a years.

New Tracks in the Snow

Prior to this fall and winter's wolf reintroductions, the wolf population on the remote island had remained at just two—a strongly bonded, but also highly inbred male-female pair—for three years. The moose population, lacking predation, expanded by an average of 19% each year during the past eight years since 2011, when the wolf population first dwindled to fewer than 10 individuals. Consequently, primary plant species in moose diets—balsam fir and watershield—dropped precipitously.

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Wolves lead, dogs follow -- and both cooperate with humans

Date:  March 14, 2019

Source:  University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna

Human social life would be unthinkable without cooperation. The frequency and complexity with which humans cooperate with each other are extraordinary, if not unique. To better understand the evolution of this outstanding human skill, researchers have proposed dogs (Canis familiaris) as a good model of human cooperation.

The wolf inside dogs makes the difference

A recent study by Vetmeduni Vienna, published in the journal Scientific Reports, shows that the ability to work with people lies not so much within dogs themselves but in the "wolf within the dog" -- that is to say, in very specific behavioural characteristics that dogs share with wolves. The study tested the extent to which dogs and grey wolves collaborate with humans in order to solve certain tasks. The findings show that both dogs and wolves cooperate intensively with humans and are equally successful, although the animals attain their goals in different ways.

Wolves show more initiative

Especially in one point the two closely related animals show significantly different forms of behaviour. In their cooperation with human partners, dogs follow the behaviour of the humans while wolves lead the interaction: they are more independent. Study director Friederike Range from the Konrad Lorenz Institute at Vetmeduni Vienna says, "The detailed analysis of the cooperative interactions revealed interesting differences between wolves and dogs. It shows that, while wolves tend to initiate behaviour and take the lead, dogs are more likely to wait and see what the human partner does and follow that behaviour."

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Snowed in: Wolves stay put when it's snowing

University of Alberta biologists examine the impact of snowfall events on wolves in northeastern Alberta

Date:  December 19, 2018

Source:  University of Alberta

Wolves travel shorter distances and move slower during snowfall events, according to new research by University of Alberta biologists. The effects were most pronounced at night, when wolves hunt, and behaviour returned to normal within a day. Wolf tracks across snow in northeastern Alberta.

Wolf tracks across snow in northeastern Alberta. The study found that wolves travel shorter distances and move slower during snowfall. Photo credit: Amanda Droghini

"Our findings suggest that there is something about actively falling snow that causes wolves to slow down," said Amanda Droghini, a former MSc student in the Department of Biological Science and lead author on the study. "We don't know the exact mechanism behind that. It's unlikely that they were staying still because they were feasting on a recent kill. Instead, active precipitation might affect wolves' hunting abilities. Like rain, snow clears the air column of scent molecules. So, maybe falling snow makes it harder for wolves to detect the smell of prey."

Over the course of two winters, the researchers used remote cameras to identify snowfall events and estimate snow depth. To study wolf movement, they collected telemetry data from 17 wolves to calculate travel speed and duration, as well as resting periods. It is the first study to examine how large carnivores respond to snowfall events.

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Why alligators, wolves and mountain lions are turning up in odd places

24 October 2018

Predators are thriving in places they shouldn't, revealing some serious misunderstandings about their behaviour and how to protect them

By Isabelle Groc

WHEN Brian Silliman found himself face to face with an alligator, he thought he was seeing a ghost. It was night and he was knee deep in mud in a salt marsh in Georgia, searching for crabs and snails. Alligators are freshwater reptiles, so Silliman was not expecting to come across one, but the pair of red eyes watching him was unmistakably real. Thinking fast, he shook a cage between him and the predator to scare it away. “That freaked me out,” he says.

The next morning, haunted by the encounter, Silliman, a conservation biologist at Duke University, North Carolina, couldn’t stop wondering why the alligator was in the salt marsh. Returning to the site, he spotted more of them – and they seemed to be right at home. Diving into the scientific literature, he discovered that alligators are not the only predators found thriving in places where they are not supposed to live. It was a light-bulb moment. “I started re-evaluating everything I had been taught about large animals,” he says.

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Letting nature take its course: Wolves in Yellowstone National Park

Date:  October 16, 2018

Source:  University of Alberta

Since the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, the park's ecosystem has become a deeply complex and heterogeneous system, aided by a strategy of minimal human intervention. The new study is a synthesis of 40 years of research on large mammals in Yellowstone National Park, conducted by University of Alberta ecologist Mark Boyce.

"Yellowstone has benefited from the reintroduction of wolves in ways that we did not anticipate, especially the complexity of biological interactions in the park," explained Boyce, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Alberta Conservation Association Chair in Fisheries and Wildlife. "How the vegetation in one valley responded to wolf recovery can be very different than in the next valley."

Some of these complex interactions include the increasing influence of bears on the survival of elk calves, the relationships between wolves and hunters, as well as the recovery of willow, cottonwood, and aspen trees in different areas of the park. In addition, bison have replaced elk as the dominant herbivore on Yellowstone's Northern Range, and bison numbers continue to increase.

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NPS to reestablish wolves on Isle Royale

September 28, 2018 by Bob Yirka, Phys.org report

Officials with the National Park Service in the U.S. have announced that NPS has plans to reestablish wolves on Isle Royale—an island in Lake Superior. They also told reporters that some wolves have already been captured and brought to the island and have been released into the wild.

Isle Royale National Park is a group of islands in a northwestern part of Lake Superior—the island of Isle Royale is the largest by far. The entire island is a park, and because of that, it is mostly uninhabited by humans. Neither moose nor wolves are native to the island, but both made their way over from what is now Minnesota sometime around 1900 by walking over frozen portions of the lake. The arrival of the moose and wolf on the island caught the attention of researchers who began a study of the dynamic between the two back in 1958—it has continued to this day, making the study the longest of its kind ever conducted. But the study has come nearly to a halt as the wolf population has dwindled to just two—one male and one female. Both are old, and the pair are not expected to reproduce. The population dwindled because of the lack of genetic diversity, which led to diseases that wiped them out. Meanwhile, the moose population has surged, causing overgrazing of parts of the island. After assessing the situation, NPS has decided that reintroducing wolves makes the most sense.

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Are Chernobyl wolves spreading mutant genes?

Wolves from the Chernobyl site have been roaming freely beyond the nuclear disaster zone's border, increasing fears that they will spread mutant genes.

The site became off limits to humans after the nuclear power plant disaster on 26 April 1986, due to concerns about the level of radiation, although it has opened to tourism in recent years.

But it is thought that the lack of human interference has allowed animals to thrive in the 18.6-mile-wide exclusion zone.

Wolves began to take over the site in 2016, when their population was thought to be around 300.

Scientists have followed the wolves as the population has grown to a number now estimated to be up to seven times greater than that of surrounding reserves.

Fourteen grey wolves (13 adults and one male juvenile) were tracked using GPS collars to see how far they strayed from the exclusion zone.

Study lead author and wildlife ecologist Michael Byrne told Live Science: "No wolves there were glowing - they all have four legs, two eyes and one tail."

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Large fenced reserves an effective way to bring wolves back to Scotland

Date:  June 13, 2018

Source:  University of Sussex

Research, led by the University of Sussex and the University of Kent, indicates that for wolves to be effective at directly reducing red deer numbers and allowing nature to recover in the Scottish Highlands they may need to be reintroduced to very large fenced reserve.

A fenced area, which would also help limit encounters with residents, farmers and workers in the Scottish Highlands, would give the reintroduced grey wolf the opportunity to achieve the high population densities (e.g. 80 wolves per 1000 km2) required to directly reduce the very high red deer numbers that are currently create an over-grazing problem in the Highlands.

The current high red deer densities (up to 40 deer/km2) are preventing tree regeneration and ecosystem restoration in parts of Scotland with more than one third of all native woodlands in an unfavourable condition because of herbivore impacts.

Dr Christopher Sandom, lecturer in biology at the University of Sussex with a particular interest in rewilding, said: "Reintroducing the wolf has long been suggested as part of the solution to large red deer populations but there will always be concerns about how wolves interact with people in any rewilding project like this. This research shows that they could actually have an extremely beneficial impact in terms of making the rewilding process more effective."

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How to achieve a peaceful coexistence between wolves and humans

Date:  June 1, 2018

Source:  FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

The persecution of wolves in order to remove them from human settlements has culminated in their near-disappearance in numerous European countries, like Spain and Sweden. Following a recovery of the species, a team of scientists has determined what geographic areas in the Scandinavian country would be most suitable for a redistribution of the specie's range, in the interests of increasing the social acceptance of wolves.

The conflict between wolves and humans is a fight over territory and livestock. This centuries-long struggle has led to the near extinction of this great carnivore in 1970s Spain, as well as in other countries such as Sweden in the middle of the last century. In the 60s, there were no breeding populations in Sweden and only 10 specimens extant in Scandinavia.

It is for this reason that, in 1966, the Swedish government formally protected the species in a country where 70% of its surface is characterized by large forests, most of them intended for trade.

Of the 438,600 km2 of the country, only 3% has buildings and 8% corresponds to agriculture. Under government protection, the first reproduction of wolves took place in 1978 and the population began to grow about fifteen years later. At present, the population of Swedish wolves exceeds 400 individuals.

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Wild wolf shot and killed in Denmark

As wild wolves return to Europe, one of the first wolves to settle in Denmark has been shot dead in an incident captured on film

Matthew Taylor

Tue 1 May 2018 18.06 BSTLast modified on Tue 1 May 2018 22.00 BST

One of the first wild wolves to roam free in Denmark for 200 years has been shot and killed, threatening the survival of the species in the country.

Two naturalists who were observing the wolves captured the moment the animal was shot on camera. The film has sparked outrage.

The footage appears to show the animal, a female, being shot by someone in a parked car. The wolf was not posing a threat or being aggressive.

Guillaume Chapron, associate professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences said the killing was “completely unacceptable” with the wolf showing no sign of aggressive behaviour before it was shot but “rather a mix of caution and curiosity.”

“From the video recording of the animal behaviour, there was absolutely no threat to humans and there was also no indication whatsoever that this animal could become a threat.” 

He said it was difficult to find a reason for the shooting “except simple wolf hatred and a belief that humans do not tolerate predators in the landscape”.

“I don’t think we have a problem wolf here but we certainly have a ‘problem hunter’ and such people need to be stopped.”

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One man’s plan to let wolves roam free in the Highlands

The Observer

Kevin McKenna

The ‘custodian’ of the Alladale estate wants to turn it into a fenced-off wildlife reserve

Sun 8 Apr 2018 06.00 BST

The echoes of Scotland’s predator prince faded into silence three centuries ago. The wolf was once lord of these Sutherland slopes and the forest floors beneath and now a voice in the wilderness is calling him home.

Paul Lister acquired the Alladale estate, 50 miles north of Inverness, in 2003 and immediately set about creating a wilderness reserve according to his perception of what these wild and beautiful places ought to look like. He can’t imagine them without the packs of wolves that once roamed free here.

But his views are considered eccentric by ramblers and conservationists, who view them as a rich man’s caprice, centring their objections on his plans to fence off the vast reserve.

Lister’s plans for the controlled release of a pack of Swedish wolves have been known for years but last week he seemed to issue an ultimatum to the Highland and Islands council, using a local newspaper interview to tell them: “I want to do this, but we would really need to have the details nailed down by the end of 2018.” Yet, when you speak to this man, driven as he is by a vision of how these places should be managed, you form an unshakeable impression that he will strive to fulfil it for as long as it takes.

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New genetic research shows extent of cross-breeding between wild wolves and domestic dogs

Date:  March 21, 2018

Source:  University of Lincoln

Mating between domesticated dogs and wild wolves over hundreds of years has left a genetic mark on the wolf gene pool, new research has shown.

The international study showed that around 60 per cent of Eurasian grey wolf genomes carried small blocks of the DNA of domestic dogs, suggesting that wolves cross-bred with dogs in past generations.

The results suggest that wolf-dog hybridisation has been geographically widespread in Europe and Asia and has been occurring for centuries. The phenomenon is seen less frequently in wild wolf populations of North America.

Researchers examined DNA data from grey wolves -- the ancestors of the domestic dog -- to determine how much their gene pool was diluted with the DNA of domestic canines, and how widespread the process of hybridisation is.

Despite the evidence of hybridisation among Eurasian grey wolves, the wolf populations have remained genetically distinct from dogs, suggesting that such cross-breeding does not diminish distinctiveness of the wolf gene pool if it occurs at low levels.

The results could have important conservation implications for the grey wolf, which is a keystone species -- meaning it is vital to the natural balance of the habitat it occupies. The legal status of hybrids is still uncertain and unregulated.

The study was led by researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr Malgorzata Pilot, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, said: "The fact that wild wolves can cross-breed with dogs is well-documented, but little was previously known about how widespread this phenomenon has been and how it has affected the genetic composition of wild wolf populations.

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France to let wolf population grow despite farmers' fears

19 February 2018

France is to allow the wolf population to grow from about 360 now to 500 by 2023, despite protests from farmers worried about their livestock.

A new plan announced by the government represents a rise of nearly 40% in the wolf population.

After being eradicated by hunters in the 1930s, the wolf made its way back into France from Italy in the 1990s.

Wolves are listed as a protected species by the Bern Convention that France has signed up to.

Animal rights groups had been pushing for a more radical proposal and accused ministers of lacking political courage.

In a gesture to farmers, the government said that hunters in France would still be allowed to cull 40 wolves this year, the same as in 2017. Up to 10% of the wolf population could be culled every year from 2019, and that proportion could rise to 12% if more frequent wolf attacks were registered.

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Mountain lions often lose to wolves and bears, study finds

by Shreya Dasgupta on 6 February 2018

When the hunting grounds of pumas overlap with those of other top predators, such as wolves, bears and jaguars, pumas are often the losers, a new study has found.

The findings from the study, a review of existing scientific literature, are especially important given how pumas are still being intensively hunted over much of their range in a bid to reduce conflicts with people and livestock, researchers say.

In some puma habitats where wolves and brown bears are recolonizing and recovering, wildlife managers need to be cautious about hunting limits for pumas, the authors write.

The large, secretive puma (Puma concolor) may be at the top of its food chain, but it is not always the king of its territory.

Native to the Americas, the puma, also called the mountain lion, cougar, catamount or panther, often shares its habitat with several other top predators, such as wolves, bears, coyotes and jaguars. But when the hunting grounds of these predators overlap, the puma is often the loser, researchers report in a new study published in PeerJ.

By reviewing the scientific literature on competition between pumas and other predators, researchers have found that wolves, grizzly bears, black bears and jaguars often dominate pumas. In fact, pumas are subordinate to at least one other top carnivore in 47.5 percent of their range across North and South America. In turn, pumas seem to be dominant only over coyotes and maned wolves.

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Harmless or vicious hunter? The uneasy return of Europe's wolves

Wildlife

This winter the first wolf in 100 years arrived in Belgium, completing the animals’ return to mainland Europe. But can Europeans relearn how to live alongside the predators?

Patrick Barkham

Fri 26 Jan 2018 15.25 GMTLast modified on Fri 26 Jan 2018 22.00 GMT

To some it is a roe deer that eats meat: an adaptable animal capable of living peaceably alongside humans. To others it is a demonic killing machine that ruins farmers – and whose presence is a symbol of the city’s contempt for rural life.

The wolf is on the rise in Europe. This winter it finally reconquered Belgium, the last mainland European country from which it had been absent after decades of persecution.

After crossing the Alps from Italy to France in 1992 and from Poland into Germany at the turn of this century, the wolf has slipped into densely populated territory where people have no memory of living alongside it. Experts say Germany’s wolf population is growing “exponentially”– and spreading, into Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark, which discovered its first wolf pack for 200 years last spring.

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Committed to relatives: Hounds and wolves share their parasites

Date:  December 15, 2017

Source:  Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Summary:

Grey wolves, as all wild animals, are hosts to a variety of parasites. The presence of grey wolves in German forests has little influence on the parasite burden of hunting dogs, according to a new study.

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'Big, bad wolf' image flawed - scientists

By Helen BriggsBBC News

16 October 2017 

New research casts doubt on the idea that dogs are naturally more tolerant and friendly than wolves.

In tests of cooperation skills, wolves outperformed their domesticated relatives.

Scientists say the findings challenge assumptions about how dogs were tamed from wolves and came to live alongside humans.

Previous evidence has suggested that the domestication process may have given dogs a more tolerant temperament.

"We still have very much this idea of the big, bad wolf and the cuddly pooch on your sofa," Dr Sarah Marshall-Pescini, who led the research, told BBC News.

"But, I think the simplest message is that the story is not quite as clear as that."

Social bonds

Wolves are highly social animals. They live in close-knit family groups, raise puppies together and hunt in groups.

This sort of behaviour is not seen in modern dogs, despite the idea that domestication selected for dogs that were more tolerant and friendly, both of each other, and humans.

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