Biologist removes snare from Denali wolf
Published Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Stumble It!The National Park Service didn’t spend almost $4,000 to catch a wolf and remove a cable snare around its neck last week for the sake of tourists who might be offended by seeing the gaping wound on the animal’s neck.
It was the wolf that officials at Denali National Park and Preserve say they were thinking about.
“The fact that people could see it wasn’t our biggest concern,” public affairs officer Kris Fister said. “Our concern was for the welfare of the animal.”
It cost the park service “a little less than $4,000” to track down the wolf with a plane and shoot it with a tranquilizer dart from a helicopter on May 2.
The wolf was one of two that were evidently trapped in snares on state land outside the 6-million acre park in mid-February and then returned to the park after somehow escaping, probably by breaking or chewing through the cable to which the snares were attached.
The wolf, a large, gray male weighing about 90 pounds, was seen several times near the entrance to the park at Mile 230 of the Parks Highway, as well as along the road leading into the park. But biologists’ attempts to capture the wolf were unsuccessful until last week when it was spotted near the Savage River bridge at Mile 15 of Denali Park Road.
The park service mobilized a team to find and capture the wolf the next day. Biologist Tom Meier ended up darting the wolf from a helicopter on a high ridge near the Savage River check station. Meier removed the cable snare from the wolf’s neck and a veterinarian, Denny Albert, tended the wound and treated the wolf with antibiotics.
The cost of the operation included hiring a spotter plane to find the wolf, a helicopter to dart it, fuel for both aircraft and the cost of the drugs and other supplies used to remove the snare and treat the wound, Fister said.
The only reason the park service intervened was because the wolf’s injury was human caused, she said. Had the wolf been kicked in the head by a moose or suffered a broken leg in a fight with other wolves, it would have been left to fend for itself.
“If it was a natural injury, we wouldn’t have done it,” Fister said.
Meier, the biologist who removed the snare, said the cable used to catch the wolf was not thick enough for wolf trapping, which is probably the reason the wolf broke free.
“There’s no reason this should have happened,” acting park superintendent Philip Hooge said. “It was poor trapping technique.”
Animals in the park suffer natural injuries, sometimes fatal ones, on a regular basis and the park service does nothing to intercede, even if the injured animals are visible to tourists, Fister said.
“There are animals that get injured all the time out there ... animals get killed by other animals,” she said.
Fister recalled an incident several years ago in which a pack of wolves killed a moose on a gravel bar of the Teklanika River within sight of the park road. The process played out over the course of several days and was witnessed by hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists. Photos of the scene appeared in National Geographic and the park service received dozens of complaints, Fister said.
“We got all sorts of complaints from people,” she said. “People were calling us and saying, ‘How can you let this happen? How come you’re not putting (the moose) out of its misery?’”
The answer, at least in a national park, is simple.
“It’s part of nature,” Fister said. “Nature isn’t kind.”
The other snared wolf, a black male believed to be part of the East Fork pack, has not been seen in over a month.
Community Discussion
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Am I mistaken or is this a repeat of an article that was already submitted to the Newsminer some couple or three weeks ago? This one sounds hauntingly familiar.... if its the same in one wolf as the last article..I am confused...... I thought the wolf had been worked on already. I know I saw the picture in the newspaper On Line already... so I was hoping this was the 2nd wolf..if its not the 2nd wolf that hasnt been seen in sometime.. why was this resubmitted as if its the first time reported? curious
or is somebody forgetting it was News a couple three weeks ago? If that was the case.. this is OLD news.. why was it posted again?
It is the same story, from just May 2. This is article is refuting the fact that the urgency was to keep park tourists from seeing the snare and to explain that the rescue effort was made because it was human error that got the wolf the injury. There is still one wolf with a snare in the park.
Hooge how do you know know the snare was set for a wolf it probaly was a fox or lynx set and the wolves stumbled into them.
Fister don't lie to us and change your story $4000 later.
a bullet costs a heck of alot less than catching and releasing the animal. Plus the shooter could have possibly gotten a nice ruff made out of the *"tourist eye sore" of a wolf. should have poisened the wolf in the first place and gotten the job done right the first time.
In Alaska it seems the answer to everything is "kill it". The Park
Service seens to do a lot of things wrong but this deed was one that
was commendable. The reputation of Alaska as "killing country" might
have gained a bit of reprieve.
To 1xspitrat; oh ok.. I see.. but I thought they said the same thing before.. well maybe they did explain more in this latest article that it was for the wolf's sake and not the tourists.... thanks for clarifying that for me.
And for what it matters.... I agree with the other poster.. there are snares for lync , fox and coyote as well and it is possible that the wolves could have stumbled into them too.... hence why it was a lighter gauge cable wire he was in.. maybe... only the licensed trapper (snarer) would know that. But if they are reading this and it WAS set out for wolf.. I hope they learn a lesson and use a heavier gauge next time around... would have to see our wildlife having to endure mans hand to their fate in this fashion.
No living thing should have to endure that kind of injury and live to tell about it.
typographical error..that was suppose to be LYNX not Lync! sorry!
The Headline should read: "Wolf survives encounters with trapper and aerial hunters." It is ironic to me that the animal rights, hunting, gun rights, and state rights communities are not up in arms about the use of an airplane and helicopter by a federal agency to capture and release a wolf within an area where local citizens are not allowed to carry a fire arm, (let alone hunt), under federal law; using means that are prohibited under state law.
Did the Federal "authorities" have written permission from the board of game to use poison? Did they do an environmental impact study, inform the local population, or even read the State Hunting Regulations prohibiting harassment, taking of wildlife, use of a helicopter, or use of poison without written permission from the board of game before they acted? Those are just the State regulations that were potentially violated.
One of our state's long time residents is on trial for charges of hunting violations, and from what this article says, it is possible that there were some federal laws broken in the taking of this wolf as well. This might be worth a second look by our state authorities, since federal agencies and their employees must abide by local laws and regulations. Nowhere in the constitution does it give a federal agency or official the right to waste taxpayer money in the act of committing a crime. I am not saying anyone is guilty, I am simply asking for a full account of the facts.
Well meaning as the National Park Agency may be, they shouldn't get a free pass if they acted irresponsibly. They could have radio collared that wolf, and gleaned some information on his pack's movements which would benefit not only the board of game, but also the local citizens.
Was Jeff King involved in this?
Radio collar? I wouldnt put a collar on that wolf until it was healed.. the collar would fall into the deep wound and not only cause further stress on the physical neck of the wolf but the skin as it tried to heal would grow around the collar ... same as the snare. A collar would NOT be a good idea at this time.
Curmudgeon,
You are correct in that I referred to Jeff King's case, but no I did not intend to infer he was involved. The referrence is for those that expect equal treatment under the law and to point out that no one, not even the commissioner of the board of game can violate the law.
Chesapeakes,
They have radio transmitters that can be attached in other ways, but why do that unless the government really is interested in gathering factual data and information about the animals through our wildlife biologists? The biologist didn't even weigh the wolf after they caught it. Don't they know there are ways to do it without hanging it upside down? I would rather they spent the money to buy a more humane scale, tape measure or hire better help.
After reading both articles and all the quotes from the Park Service Officials, I am convinced this whole recapture and save the wolf operation was thrown together to keep from embarrasing the Park Service this summer. Granted, it saves a tour guide from answering tough questions about the reality of life in Alaska, and gives them a really nice story to tell the bus loads of tourists.
For those that didn't read the first article, the state has a no trap zone around the park and the wolves ventured beyond it. How large of an easement should we give the animals before they are fair game to residents? How long will it be before the dog mushing, gold panning, and fur rondi is something that "used to happen" in Alaska before we became civilized in the eyes of the tourists?
Part of what keeps Alaska wild is the residents and their understanding that animals are not people. Animals rely on instinct not reasoning to survive and thrive.
Did the park service rush to do the humane thing and ignore the rules without reasoning acting instead on instinct or was this an arbitrary plan to protect the tourism industry by doing the politically correct thing? I assume it was a legal hunt and they have the written permission to dart animals. Innocent until proven guilty. Most postings agree that the animal is better off now, but if it was not a legal hunt, then there should be a reconing.
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