Wildlife Officials Capture And Collar Three Oregon Wolves
Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator, with a 97-pound male wolf collared Feb. 12th. Photo from ODFW.
One of the biggest wildlife stories of last year was news that a pack of ten wolves are living in the Imnaha Wildlife Management Unit in Wallowa County.
In order to better follow the pack and understand their movements, officials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife captured three pack members last weekend and put radio collars on them.
Starting on Friday the 12th, wildlife officials captured and collared two males, including the alpha. The next day they did the same with a female pup.
“The wolves were in good body condition and the capture went well,” says Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator.
Morgan with the female pup radio collared on Feb. 13th. Photo from ODFW.
Morgan believes the pack consists of five pups and five adults. Most of the time, only the alpha male and alpha female will mate.
The Imnaha pack grabbed headlines last fall when ODFW released a video showing the wolves walking through a snowy forest. Officials had been aware of the pack for more than a year. But until the video, they weren’t aware of the size of the pack.
The alpha female is the fourth member of the pack to have a radio collar. She was discovered in January of 2008 and is the first confirmed gray wolf to enter Oregon from Idaho since the early part of this century.
Wildlife officials are also watching a pack in the Wenaha Wildlife Management Unit in another part of Wallowa County. They believe the pack has four members, none of which have been collared.
Meanwhile, ODFW continues to monitor a few isolated wolves.
The gray wolf remains on Oregon’s Endangered Species list, and killing one is illegal. They’re also on the federal endangered species list in the Western two-thirds of the state.
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