Lone gray wolf ends visit to state, heads to Canada

The Associated Press

Originally published Sunday, February 24, 2002

"Hopefully, she enjoyed her stay here in Washington enough to spread the word about our great wolf habitat." -- Julie Palmquist, Wolf Haven International

SPOKANE -- Ladies and gentlemen, Wolf Y-206 has left the state.

The lone gray wolf who wandered into Washington in early February, becoming the first confirmed sighting in the state in decades, has moved on to the Castlegar, British Columbia, area, scientists say.

"We just assume she's continuing to look for a mate," Madonna Luers of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday. "There are no male wolves in Washington."

Biologists say Y-206 has been spotted near Castlegar, 20 miles north of the border, in the past week.

There was no evidence the radio-collared wolf attacked any livestock or pets during her brief stay in the state, Luers said. But she did find moose and deer to feed on.

Heading northwest

While it is possible the wolf could return from Canada, her migration pattern since she was released in Montana has been to move northwest, Luers said. There are many more gray wolves in Canada than in the Northwest, she said.

Y-206, an alpha female, is likely searching for a male to mate with and start a pack, Luers said.

Agency biologists expect endangered gray wolves from the federal recovery zone in Montana and Idaho will establish at least one pack in Washington within the next decade, she said.

"Everything they need is here," Luers said. "We have a lot of deer in northeast Washington. That's their mainstay."

Advocates overjoyed

While ranchers in Washington are not happy at the thought of wolf packs forming, wolf advocates were overjoyed by the visit of Y-206.

"Hopefully, she enjoyed her stay here in Washington enough to spread the word about our great wolf habitat," said Julie Palmquist of Wolf Haven International, a nonprofit group based in Tenino.

Wolves once roamed throughout Washington, as far west as the Olympic Peninsula, but were eradicated by the 1940s.

When she was spotted Feb. 6 near Metaline Falls, Y-206 became the first confirmed wild wolf in Washington since 1975. That wolf was shot in Douglas County for killing three calves. There have been other reported sightings, although it was impossible to confirm whether they were pure wolves or wolf-dog hybrids.

The parents of Y-206 were among the wolves federal biologists captured in Canada and released into Yellowstone National Park during the mid-1990s. As an adult, she became the alpha or top female of a pack near Ennis, Mont.

Biologists shot the alpha male last June, after the pack killed sheep. They relocated Y-206, her six pups and a yearling male to a pen on media mogul Ted Turner's ranch, near Bozeman, Mont.

Biologists released the eight wolves in the Yaak River Valley in the northwestern corner of Montana on Dec. 19.

Y-206 stayed with her pups until late December or early January, then wandered into Idaho, scientists say.

Emotional issue

The reintroduction of wolves into Montana, Idaho and Wyoming since 1995 has been an emotional issue. There are no plans to introduce wolves into Washington, but they will almost certainly travel here from the other states, officials say.

Gray wolves were added to the Endangered Species List in 1973. The reintroduced wolves have done so well, growing from 66 animals in the mid-1990s to 570 now, that federal agencies propose changing their status from endangered to threatened.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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