Passage II

Are Wolves Making a Comeback?

[1]

[1] At dawn a hunter crept across a steep, wooded, pine-covered slope in northwest Wyoming. [2] He was searching for signs of elk when he noticed an unusual track, broad as a human hand, in the fresher fallen snow. [3] He thought it might have been made by something.

[2]

[1] Even though wolves supposedly disappeared from the area years ago, the hunter’s story was not unusual. [2] Many reports, most of them filed by hunters have recounted howlings, tracks, and possible wolf kills (that is, animals killed by wolves). [3] A few people even claim to have stood face-to-face with wolves before the animals faded into black timber. (23) [4] The United States Forest Service has verified thirty reports of wolf sightings in the past decade in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.

[3]

According to Forest Service officials, the Rocky Mountain gray wolf was common throughout most of Wyoming in the 1860s and 1870s. However, ranchers and government “wolfers” made a concerted effort to eliminate the predators by trapping and poisoning them. (25)

[4]

Wolves are now classified as an endangered species in all the lower forty-eight states except Minnesota, after which the animals began migrating from Canada in the 1960s. There is also a sizable population of wolves just north of the Montana border. Biologists believe that the recent flurry of possible wolf sightings in Wyoming may indicate that a few wolves are moving south.

[5]

Although Forest Service officials consider the sightings to be honestly reported, they need to confirm the presence of wolf packs and breeding pairs in the Bridger-Teton area. So, biologists decided, to look for the wolves themselves. They have flown to elk and deer wintering areas, ridden horses and snowmobiles through the mountains, and throwing back their heads and called out with low, moaning howls in hopes of communicating with the wolves. Occasionally, the wolves have answered back.