One of the most fascinating things we learned was the complex world of the park’s main predator, the wolf. Yellowstone Park is no stranger to controversy and the handling of the wolves has been front and center for almost a century. Although wolves are fascinating to watch, they pose an enormous threat to livestock and animals many ranchers in the Yellowstone states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho need for their livelihood. In the 1930’s the decision was made to kill off the Yellowstone wolf population altogether. This plummeted the park’s ecosystem into an imbalance that affected everything from plant life to the birds in the air.
In January of 1995 after close to 70 years without the wolves, the first step towards wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone took place. That month, fourteen wolves captured from Alberta, Canada were placed in acclimation enclosures in Yellowstone National Park. In March 1995, the pens were opened and the wolves were released into the wild. Another 11 wolves were released the following year and by 2004, the wolf population in Yellowstone had grown to an estimated 300 individuals. Now there are 12 wolf packs in the park that are closely watched and studied. Only within the park’s boarders are wolves not killed because of their threat to man. This provides a unique environment where the human does not intimidate the wolves, so their natural behavior can be studied for the first time ever. Here we were shown a wolf den (while a bison watches behind us) as well as the result of a wolf attack. Our very knowledgeable guide entertained us with the soap opera like world of the wolf packs of Yellowstone.
