I’m working on a story about the current campaign to remove Grey Wolves in the Rocky Mts. from the Endangered Species List, so I made plans to meet up in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley with Rick McIntyre, one of the researchers who monitor the park’s protected population.
These wolves can not be hunted and live closely-observed but unaided by humans.
Here’s a link to the park’s website on its wolf population.
And here is a sample of some of the sound I collected for my story. Note that the blipping sound you’ll hear on the recording is the signal from the radio collars worn by at least one wolf in each pack.
Click me for Yellowstone wolf audio
It was difficult to see the wolves, who, at a distance of about 4 miles, appeared as tiny, dog-shaped dark spots in the field of a spotting scope magnified 16-20x!
Nonetheless one exciting highlight was watching 5 wolves who were trying to chase a coyote off their turf. In the process they came across 6 bull elk that were grazing on a hillside. When the elk saw the wolves approaching they lifted their mighty antler-crowned heads to face the mightier predators and a stare-down ensued. After a few minutes the wolves backed off, turned tail and took off in search of some easier targets. Fascinating!
Stay tuned for a full-length radio report…
