The alpha male and last year's pup, a female, were darted yesterday, using a helicopter. In addition, the three pups of this year s litter were removed from a den site that was fairly deep into a forested area on private land in the Beartooth Mountain range.
As a result of a second day of effort by biologists, the alpha female was captured in a trap this morning. She will be relocated to the same site as her pups and other members of the pack. The remaining collared wolf, R-15 as it was called when originally relocated from Canada, was not captured. At this time, biologists do not plan to continue efforts to capture him.
We believe that the chances of survival for the pups will be much better if we can relocate them into the southern part of the Park sometime in the next few weeks, said Ed Bangs, Wolf Recovery Coordinator. It's important that we try to preserve every wolf and maximize their contribution to the recovery of wolves in general, Bangs added.
Members of the Soda Butte Pack had not preyed on any livestock, but it was believed that relocation of the wolves to the southern part of the Park would provide better habitat.