25 or 26 Yellowstone Wolves Killed in the 2021-2022 Wolf Hunt Seasons in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho
“Every wolf that walks through my life, leaves me in awe of their existence and their ability make a broken eco-system whole again.” deby 2022
On 2/16/2022 the Yellowstone Wolf Project updated their website to show that 25 Yellowstone wolves were killed during the 2021-2022 hunt season. See chart of animals killed below.
• 19 Yellowstone wolves killed in Montana
• 4 Yellowstone wolves killed in Wyoming
• 2 Yellowstone wolves killed in Idaho
One wolf, Wapiti yearling male, 1266, was illegally “harvested,” in WY and 2 were trapped.
Eighteen wolves were killed in unit 313, which is the area near Gardiner, MT, and 3 were killed in 316 near Silver Gate and Cooke City, MT.
• Seven members of the Phantom Lake Pack (most likely all of them), which spent a great deal of its time just north of the park.
• Seven members of the Junction Butte pack – this pack is watched in Yellowstone almost every day of the year.
• Three members of the Wapiti Lake Pack.
• Three members of the 8 Mile pack, which, ironically calls the Blacktail their home, putting these wolves in close contact with the park’s northern border and hunting unit 313. This pack is only watched when the Junctions are unavailable for viewing. Two were trapped and one was shot
.• Two members of the Rescue Creek pack were killed but this number may be updated to 3 as it is believed that a collared black male, 1275, was also killed.
• One member, an adult male, of the Mollies pack was killed in Wyoming.
• Two members of the Bechler pack were killed in Idaho.
No mention of the Cougar Creek pack, which resides on Yellowstone’s west border, leading me to wonder if this pack still exists.
The current wolf population of Yellowstone is 89 animals. This information can be found here: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolf-restoration.htmGo down the page to “Outlook.”