The magazine of The UK Wolf Conservation Trust, published quarterly

Issue 24 Summer 2005

Published by:The UK Wolf Conservation TrustButlers Farm, Beenham,Reading RG7 5NTTel & Fax: 0118 971 3330e-mail: ukwct@ukwolf.orgwww.ukwolf.org

EditorDenise TaylorTel: 01788 832658e-mail: denise.taylor@btinternet.com

Editorial TeamJulia Bohanna,Andrew Matthews,Gwynne Power, Sue Sefscik

Contributors to this issue:Pat Adams, Chris Darimont, Chris Genovali,Kieran Hickey, Bill Lynn, Faisal Moola, Paul Paquet,Kirsty Peake.

Design and Artwork: Phil Dee Tel: 01788 546565

PatronsDesmond MorrisErich KlinghammerChristoph Promberger

The UK Wolf Conservation Trust DirectorsNigel BulmerCharles HicksTsa PalmerDenise Taylor

The UK Wolf Conservation Trust is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England &Wales. Company No. 3686061

The opinions expressed in this magazine are notnecessarily those of the publishers or The UK WolfConservation Trust.

All rights reserved through the world. Reproduction in anymanner, in whole or in part, in English or other languages,prohibited. This work may not be photocopied or otherwisereproduced within the terms of any license granted by theCopyright Licensing Agency Ltd or the Publishers LicensingSociety Ltd.

Aims of The UK Wolf Conservation Trust

● To enhance the conservation, scientific knowledgeand public awareness of the environment.

● To stimulate greater interest in Wolves, theirfood, their habitat and their behaviour.

● To provide opportunities for both ethologicalresearch and for people to interact with Wolves.

● To improve the chances of survival of EuropeanWolves in the wild.

● To set up an education programme for schools,conservationists and dog trainers.

Cover price: £3.00Subscription rates (incl P&P):United Kingdom: £14.00 (non-members);£12.00 (UKWCT members).Rest of world: £16.00 (non-members);£14.00 (UKWCT members).

Eddiittoorriiaall

WolfPrint is printed on re-cycled paper. Printed by Colorco. Coventry (024) 7671 1005

FRONT COVER PICTURE CREDIT: UKWCT

In preparation for the UKWCT Autumn seminar one of our regular contributors,Kirsty Peake, has written about her trip to the Yellowstone National Park in Februarythis year. Her article gives us a good introduction to George Bumann, one of the

speakers at the seminar, who was with Kirsty’s party during the trip. Keeping with theYellowstone theme, wolf biologist Doug Smith’s book, Decade of the Wolf, waspublished in April and covers the last ten years in Yellowstone. To order your copy seethe back inside cover of this issue. Copies will also be available at the seminar.I am delighted to announce the start of a new syndicated column, Ethos, by SeniorEthics Advisor Bill Lynn on ethics and wildlife. This will be a regular feature, and isdesigned to make us stop and think about our attitudes and actions towards others,and especially towards a species that provokes strong emotions. We invite you toreflect on the more philosophical, but nevertheless fundamental, aspects of wolfconservation, and to let us have your comments and views.Paul Paquet is one of the longest serving wolf biologists in the world, and has given uspermission to reprint an article that was recently published on the Raincoast Wolves inBritish Columbia, Canada. Paul has written extensively on wolf biology andconservation and has appeared in numerous wildlife documentaries on wolves.Closer to home, Kieran Hickey, from the National University of Ireland, has researchedthe history of wolves in Ireland and gives us a fascinating insight into what life was likewhen wolves roamed our landscape. This ties in very nicely with the Lost Beasts ofBritain seminar which is being developed by colleagues at the UKWCT and which willhave its debut at the Inspired by Nature Festival at Arley Hall in Cheshire on 8thand 9th October. The wolves (of course) will be at the festival and there will be anopportunity to take part in the creation of a lifescale European bison willow sculpture.If you are interested in attending this fun event which celebrates nature through thearts, then check the website at www.education4conservation.org for further details andbooking information.

A CALL FOR HELPEducation is the foundation of all our work at the UK Wolf Conservation Trust. We arenow trying to raise sponsorship and funding to develop our Education Programme ona more formal basis. We would like to develop a range of education and teachingmaterials, and reach out to community and other groups throughout the UK andEurope. If you can help with fundraising or you know of any businesses in your areawho you think might sponsor this project, then please contact us.

AUTUMN SEMINARSunday 23rd October 2005Speakers include George Bumann from the Yellowstone Association Instituteand Andy Fisher, Head of the Wildlife Crime Unit at the Metropolitan Police Service.Book now to avoid disappointment. Website: www.ukwolf.org, email:ukwolf@ukwolf.org or telephone 0118 917 3330.

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Wolves of the World

Last of the best

The History of Wolves in Ireland

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Ins ide this i ssue . . .Ethos - Wolves Are Indicators ofMoral Health

New Kids on the Block

Book review

"Several clues suggest that it isthe wolf that is actually targetedby these irresponsible acts,"France Nature Environment, theAlpine Research Centre onVertebrates, the Bird ProtectionLeague and the DepartmentalLife and Nature Union saidon Friday.

Four wolves have been foundpoisoned over the past few years,they noted.

The remains of the eagles,predators that feed off smallmammals and snakes, werediscovered in different partsof the Alps in February, Apriland June.

Poisons are not limited to thespecies they are laid out for, butinstead contaminate differentparts of the food chain, theenvironmentalists said, addingthat it appeared the toxins usedwere strychnine and cyanide.

Anybody found guilty ofpoisoning wildlife risked sixmonths in prison and fines of upto 9,000 euros, the associationssaid, calling for "rigorousinvestigations" to find thoseresponsible.

Source:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050805/sc_afp/franceenvironment_050805141224

PortugalRaging fire puts Iberianwolves at risk

Lisbon - More than 300firefighters recently battled alarge wildfire in central Portugalwhich forced the closure of ahighway and threatened a refugewhich is home to 17 endangeredwolves, emergency servicesworkers said.

was found to have rabies,authorities said.

The attacks on 14 people tookplace from Thursday through toSaturday in villages in theZaporizhia region, a statementfrom the Emergency SituationsMinistry said.

A car struck and killed one ofthe wolves, and authorities whoexamined the animal determinedit had rabies, the ministry said.

Source:http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1742012005

NORTH AMERICA

United StatesShepherd finds wolf remedyin European guard dogsRUDYARD - At least one localshepherd found his answer toheavy wolf losses in a big, whiteand friendly dog breed that likessheep and people but not thegray wolf.

Following up on a suggestionfrom a Central MichiganUniversity biologist, shepherdEric Wallis says his lamb lossesplummeted since he started usingPyrenees guard dogs with histhree flocks. A European breedspecially developed for itsadaptability with livestock andintolerance of other canines,Wallis' Pyrenees have done whatnothing else could in protectinghis 700 animals.

Now in his fifth year of whatstarted as an experiment, Wallisswears by the big white dogs asguards for his three flocks. "I'msold on them," he said simply.

Prior to his first attempt tointroduce the dogs,Wallis said helost about 100 lambs in two yearsto a small group of wolves whoseterritory includes his M-48 farm.

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FranceFrance's Bardot demandsEU action on wolf cullBRUSSELS, June 21 (Reuters) -French actress turned animalrights activist Brigitte Bardot hasurged the European Union totake legal action against Francefor authorising the killing ofsix wolves.

Bardot, a star of the cinema inthe 1950s and 1960s, wrote toEU Environment CommissionerStavros Dimas on Monday, sayingFrance had broken EUconservation rules.

"It's totally unacceptable thatFrance puts in danger aprotected species," she wrote.

The wolf population was nearlywiped out in France and onlystarted to reappear in 1992. Theauthorities estimate there are 55wolves in France compared to2,000 in Spain and 700 in Italy.

Bardot also wrote to FrenchEcology Minister Nelly Olin tourge her to reverse the decision.

French farmers say wolveskilled 2,808 sheep in 2002compared to 192 sheep in1994. Bardot said farmers coulduse guard dogs to protecttheir flocks.

Source:Reutershttp://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21492349.htm

Eagles, other animals beingpoisoned in French AlpsPARIS (AFP) - Three goldeneagles and various otheranimals in the French Alpshave been killed by poisonrecently, apparently victims ofan illegal culling campaign byfarmers against wolves, fourenvironmental organisations saidin a joint statement.

The director of the refuge nearMafra, 40km north-west ofLisbon, said efforts were beingmade to evacuate the Iberianwolves, a species facing extinctionin Portugal, to a zoo in thePortuguese capital.

"We were alarmed because thewind changed direction and thefire, which seemed contained,went out of control," FranciscoPetruki said.

Once found across thecountry, environmentalistsestimate there are now only 300Iberian wolves in the wild inPortugal, mostly in the north.

The wolf refuge provides 17hectares of secluded woodlandfor the Iberian wolf and was setup in 1989, one year after thegovernment passed legislation toprotect the animal.

Firefighters were aided by fourwater-dropping aircraft and 70vehicles in their battle against theheat-fueled blaze.

The blaze had alreadydestroyed dozens of acres ofbrush and eucalyptus forest in aregion that was badly affectedby a wave of wildfires whichswept Portugal in 2003, killing20 people and burning a recordamount of land.

Civil protection officials saidmost of mainland Portugal, whichis facing its worst drought indecades, suffered from a high riskof wildfires on Monday becauseof soaring temperatures and lowair humidity levels. - Sapa-AFP

Source:http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=143&art_id=qw112053708658B216

UkraineRabies fear after wolf packattacks A pack of wolves attacked morethan a dozen people in easternUkraine, and one of the animals

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About five years ago,Wallis saidhe did find some dead and dyinglambs in his field and traced thesource to the single malePyrenees that started hisexperiment with the dogs. Thatfirst young male taught a valuablelesson in numbers, he said.

With only one Pyrenees in hisfields, he said the male eventuallytook after the lambs himselfwhen he reached adolescence.He said he concluded that theadolescent male had no otherdogs to play with and choselambs instead, eventually maulingthe young animals.

He ended up getting rid of thatone male, theorizing that oncethe dog learned a taste for lamb,he would not return to guard-dog status in later years.

Undeterred by the experience,he concluded that the only wayto use the European breedeffectively is in pairs, kept witheach flock.

The two Pyrenees he showedwith one of his flocks last weekseemed to be right at home intheir full-time jobs. Resting inthe small hut he provides forshelter from a hot July sun,the two dogs immediatelyapproached Wallis' four-wheelerlike any friendly dogs.

After a time for making a re-acquaintance, the dogs settled inwith the curious sheep, moving

easily among them as thesomewhat skittish flock shiftedhere and there in the fenced field.Experts say the Pyreneesdevelops a near-unique affinity fora flock, in essence becoming partof the flock, except when a wolfis prowling nearby.

Wallis said his five dogs, each100 pounds or more, are notinexpensive to maintain. Heestimates his dogs cost about$1,000 per year to feed but thatcost must be weighed against thecost of wolf losses.

The economics are easy, hesaid. "Five dogs cost $1,000to feed. Fifty lambs are worthabout $5,000."

The dogs are watered from thesame troughs used by the sheep.Each pair of guard dogs is fedfrom a self feeder set up in eachof his fields.

In winter, the dogs stay aroundhis barn with the sheep or out inthe nearby "barn lot," wheresheep spend some of their timein the cold months.

A man who depends on hisworking dogs for more than onechore,Wallis also depends on histhree-year-old Australianshepherd Jake to help round upthe flocks. He said he has foundthat the Pyrenees do not mixwell with Jake, so he keeps thetwo types of dogs apart.

Wallis flocks number about700 sheep at any given time,divided into three groups, eachguarded by a pair of Pyrenees. Inhis five years with the huge whitePyrenees, he said his wife has solda few puppies here and there,none for guard dogs, however."They've all been as pets," he said.

He said the five guard dogshe keeps in the field may be"a touch" more than he needsbut he isn't about to arguewith success.

As for the wolves, he said hestill sees a few around the farmevery year and does not mindthem being in the neighborhood.He does mind the specialendangered status of the graywolf, not necessarily becausewolves do not belong here.

Blaming federal rules primarily,he noted that the endangeredstatus of the gray wolf does notallow farmers to shoot animalspursuing their livestock. A recentruling allows Department ofNatural Resources officers toshoot 20 problem wolves a year,but Wallis does not feel thatdispensation will be effective atdiscouraging livestock losses.

The losses, he said, temper hisview of the return of the graywolf to their traditional Eastern

With five Pyrenees now livingfull-time with his flocks, Wallisreported no wolf losses in thepast two years. He is certain thedifference is the dogs.

Wallis said wolves typicallygo after young lambs a month orso old.

So crafty are the predators, hesaid, that several attempts todiscover their entry point in hisfour-foot electrified fencing cameto nothing.

During his years of heavylosses, he said lambs justdisappeared from his flocks. Hefound no remains in the 450acres of fields where his flocksspend much of the year.

"I keep good records," he said,"... No 35-pound coyote is goingto carry off a 30-pound lambover a four-foot fence," he said.

At 150 pounds or so, wolvesare big enough to make off withlambs, though he is not all thatsure how they make it back overor through his charged fences.The Pyrenees' effectiveness atwarding off wolf attacks gives himall the evidence he needs. Thebreed was especially developed inEurope to protect sheep fromwolf attacks.

"Electric fences don't keepthem out," he said with somefinality.

Map Stefania Balbo

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Upper Peninsula territory. Unlikemany farmers and somesportsmen, Wallis said he doesnot favor a return to anextermination policy.

"I don't mind wolves so long asthey don't cut into my livelihood,"he said. But with the wolf'scontinued protection, he said, "...It's like someone slipped his handin my back pocket and took outone-tenth of my income."

For now, Wallis has foundhis remedy in his treasuredgang of Pyrenees guard dogsfor a reason as straightforewardas the Rudyard shepherd's talk:they work.

Source:By JACK STOREY/The EveningNewshttp://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2005/07/25/news/news291.txt

Wolves teach experts aboutglobal warming Gray wolves could emergeas a "canary in the coal mine"of global warming by suggestinghow climate change will affectspecies around the world,researchers say.

Scientists see gray wolves asindicators for effects of climatechange. AFP

"We're not so much looking atwolves as a predator but as anindicator," says environmentalscientist Christopher Wilmers ofthe University of California-Berkeley.

In the past century, averagetemperatures have climbed abouta degree worldwide, and furtherincreases of 2 to 10 degrees areexpected by 2100, the UnitedNations Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change says. Moreextreme weather could result,and winter is expected toshorten in some regions. Thatwould affect animals and theentire environment. (Relatedopinion: Water flow holds cluesas well)

At Yellowstone National Park,for example, winters have grownmore than a week shorter since1948,Wilmers and Wayne Getz ofSouth Africa's University ofPretoria report in a study inApril's PloS Biology journal.

But wolf packs appear to easethe effects of shorter winters onthe food chain, Wilmers says.Before federal biologistsreintroduced wolves to the parkin 1995, heavy snowfall was themain cause of elk deaths inwinter, providing a diet of carrion

for scavengers such as ravens,eagles and bears.

Shorter winters withoutwolves mean about 66% fewer elkdeaths every April, whichthreatens starvation forscavengers. With wolves preyingon elk, however, the drop incarrion is only about 11%, a muchless dire situation.

Elsewhere, however, extremeweather changes have led tomore snowfall in wet regions,which affects wolf and moosepopulations.

On Lake Superior's Isle Royale,gray wolves now hunt in largerpacks. As a result, they kill moremoose, which was first shown ina 1999 study in Nature.

Above the Arctic Circle, L.David Mech of the U.S. GeologicalSurvey suggests that climatechange may hurt wolves. Last yearin the journal Climatic Change, heexamined wolf populations onCanada's Ellesmere Island, themost northern place in NorthAmerica. From

1986 to 1997, wolves therepreyed on musk oxen andsnowshoe hares.

In 1998, however, the islandexperienced more extremeweather than any observed sincerecords started in 1947. Snowfallduring cold snaps in Augustcovered ground vegetation fromthe hares and oxen, whichreduced their numbers.With littleprey, gray wolves have left theregion, Mech reports.

"Because gray wolves are sointensively studied, they may giveus very good data on the effectsof climate change," says ecologistMike Phillips, executive directorof the Turner Endangered SpeciesFund in Bozeman, Mont. Morespecialized species, such assnowshoe hares, could show sucheffects even sooner, he says, butthey receive less study.

"It's troubling we can see anyeffects in wolves, because theyare actually very good survivors."

Source:By Dan Vergano, USA TODAYhttp://www.usatoday.com/tech/scie n c e / 2 0 0 5 - 0 5 - 3 0 - wo l ve s -warming_x.htm

REST OF THEWORLD

ChinaIs it time to start culling bigbad wolf? BEIJING, July 28 -- To lose theirlivelihoods or to break the

law? That is the questionfacing herdsmen in China's wildwild west.

The current situation on thegrasslands of western Chinaoffers farmers a real dilemma -wolves are taking their livestock,but under China's environmentallaws they are a protected speciesand must not be killed.

But recent reports of "big badcarnivores" devouring livestockhave meant the wolves' days asuntouchables may be coming toan end.

Last April, a pack of wolvesattacked a pasture close toUrumqi in the Xinjiang UygurAutonomous Region, killing 10sheep belonging to herdsmanBieke.

On a wintry January night inInner Mongolia, 180 sheep fellvictim to wild wolves.

Since January, more than 1,000domesticated animals arebelieved to have been killed bythe voracious predators inXinjiang and Inner Mongolia.

One shocking incidenthappened on December 21, 2004,when a lone wolf chased ateenager down the street in acounty town in Baicheng, JilinProvince in Northeast China.Police came to the rescue and,with approval from their boss,shot it down.

A local official in charge of wildanimal protection explained that,under normal circumstances, oneshould not harm a wolf, but self-defence is justified.

People in the 1950s-1960smight have laughed at the notion.Back in those days, Chinese wereexpected to exterminate allwolves almost as a matter ofduty, and the public did not needmuch encouragement as the wolfhad always been a symbol ofvicious aggression.

The wolf-busting programmewas so successful that, by the1980s, there were hardly any wildwolves left. Then, environmentalawareness emerged in China andlaws and regulations were phasedin to protect the animals fromrandom hunting.

"The wolf is high up in the foodchain," said Teng Enjiang, anexpert with China NationalEnvironmental MonitoringCentre. "We need them to keepthe balance of things."

Wolves are necessary in theDarwinian animal world,contended Pan Zhaodong, aresearcher at Inner MongoliaAcademy of Social Sciences,because they prey on the weak

and sick, ensuring survival ofthe fittest.

However, now it seems theprotection measures have beentoo successful, wolves are onceagain coming into conflict withpeople, and herdsmen are callingfor hunting to be reintroduced.

According to Yuan Guoying,chairman of the Xinjiang EcologyInstitute, wolves usually do notinvade human territory. But thethriving livestock industry hastaken away much of the room forwild wolves, resulting in "anoverlapping of these animals'living spaces".

Teng told China Dailythat there should be studiesto determine the number ofwolves appropriate for an areaof a certain size. "If thereare too many, there shouldbe a controlled cull of thewolf population. Before acohesive policy is adopted,the herdsmen who lostanimals should be compensatedby the government."

Some local governments areheeding these suggestions.Damao Banner in Inner Mongoliahas introduced three measures.First, herdsmen must take allreasonable measures to protecttheir animals. Second, a fund willbe set up to pay damages tothose who have suffered biglosses. And third, a patrol teamwill cruise the prairie to keepwolves at bay.

It may not be ideal to havewolves and sheep on the samegrassland, but, with propermanagement, you don't have tokill one in order for the otherto survive.

Source:www.chinaview.cnhttp : / /news.x inhuanet .com/e n g l i s h / 2 0 0 5 - 0 7 / 2 8 /content_3276885.htm

Thank you to everyonewho has contributed newsand updates for Wolvesof the World. Our specialthanks to Pat Morris(Wolfseeker) for the regularsupply of wolf news fromaround the world, and toAndrew Matthews for hissub-editing work. Articlesthat are reprinted in full areappropriately credited withthe author’s name anddetails of where the articlewas first published.

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surface on the coasts of Chile, Norway,Scotland,Tasmania, New Zealand, and the U.S.Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and BritishColumbia. The temperate rainforest of thePacific coast once stretched from northernCalifornia to Alaska. Today, only Alaska andBritish Columbia still contain largeundisturbed tracts. The Great Bearcomprises the largest remaining expanse oftemperate rainforest in the world(Schoonmaker et al. 1997).

The Central Coast shows great variationand distinctiveness at the genetic, species,community, and ecosystem levels. Geneticanalyses have identified distinct coastal andcontinental black bear lineages, which mayhave been isolated from each other for360,000 years (Byun et al. 1997). Togetherwith southeastern Alaska, the region supportsthe highest endemic species concentrationfor the temperate rainforest region of PacificNorth America (Cook and MacDonald 2001).Mammalian distribution on nearby Alexander

approximately 60,000 km2, of which 19,300km2 is land (Figure 1). This nearly roadlessand mostly unsettled region is bounded bythe Coast Mountains to the east and PacificOcean to the west, creating a uniqueecological and evolutionary environmentlargely free from industrial development. Thefew human settlements consist primarily ofFirst Nation’s communities. Climate istemperate and wet with most areas receivingmore than 350 cm of annual precipitation,primarily as rain. The wet, remote,and biologically productive mountainousmainland, topographically complex innerislands, and flatter outer islands are separatedby equally productive open ocean andwaterways. Island sizes range from 5.0 km_(Moore) to 2,295 km_ (Princess Royal), andinter-landmass distances 250 m to 7.25 km.

Coastal temperate rainforest dominatesthe mainland and islands. This type ofrainforest is extremely rare globally, coveringonly a fraction of a percent of the earth’s

Where the land meets the sea on BritishColumbia’s wild Central Coast lies anunparalleled opportunity for saving what isknown as the Great Bear Rainforest. ThePacific Ocean overwhelmingly defines andinfluences this environment, which is rich inhuman culture and natural history. Thelandscape is naturally fragmented by anetwork of waterways and mountains. If wehope to preserve the area effectively, we arecompelled to understand how this marine-dominated landscape influences connectivity.Therefore, we must consider connectivity inresearch and protection efforts beforeresource extraction, mostly logging, starts tomodify and further fragment these preciousforests. A sense of urgency prevails. Ourwork has barely begun but we already knowthe task is more complex than anticipated.

Encompassing the mainland and adjacentarchipelago, the Great Bear Rainforest spansfrom the northern tip of Vancouver Island tothe Alaskan Panhandle. The region is

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Photo: UKWCT

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Archipelago of Southeast Alaska has been welldescribed (MacDonald and Cook 1996) andnotable patterns of biogeography (Conroy etal 1999) and endemism (Cook andMacDonald 2001; Fleming and Cook 2002;Small et al. 2003) have emerged.

The entire Central Coast is important towide-ranging species such as grizzly bears,gray wolves, killer whales, humpback whales,salmon, and migratory birds, many of whichare now exterminated from much of theirformer ranges. All these species depend onterrestrial and marine corridors for dispersal,reproduction, transport and distribution offood and nutrients, and communicationamong subpopulations. Our research effortshave focused on wolves. Among regions ofNorth America where wolves still roam, theCentral Coast of British Columbia and theassociated archipelago of offshore islands areecologically unique. Ostensibly, this remoteocean archipelago comprises North America’smost pristine wolf population (Darimont andPaquet 2002).

The complex physiography of the CentralCoast mediates the interaction of marine andterrestrial systems by creating many differentkinds of habitats in close proximity.Landmasses that limit movements of fish andmarine mammals provide habitat andconnectivity for populations of terrestrialmammals. Likewise, the waterways and openocean that provide habitat and travelcorridors for aquatic species often inhibittravel of mammals and birds. For manyspecies, however, land and water combine toprovide travel linkages between islands. Smallislands or non-productive islands act as oceanbound stepping-stones, providing pathwaysthat connect the larger landmasses. Somestepping-stones may be used as brief reststops, whereas others that provide goodforaging may be occupied for several days.Collectively, these linked islands can supportthe lifetime requisites of land-hopping wildlife.Changes in sea level on long timescales andtides and currents on short timescalesconspire to produce tenuous and oftenephemeral linkages. Many ecologists believethat oceanic archipelagos harbor species thatare highly vulnerable to disturbance andprone to extinction because landscapeconnections are chaotic.

CONNECTIVITY,THEORY,ANDARCHIPELAGOS

A long list of ecological studies addressingbirds, small mammals, and insects hascontributed to the development ofcontemporary conservation theory. Centralto these studies, and the subject of intensedebate over the past two decades, has beenthe role of connectivity in determining animaldistribution, abundance, and persistence(Connor and McCoy 1979; Gilpin and Hanski1991). This discussion has been fueled by theglobal impoverishment of natural systemsthrough human induced fragmentation andisolation of habitat. Accordingly, theequilibrium theory of island biogeography(MacArthur and Wilson 1967) andmetapopulation theory (Gilpin and Hanski

1991, Hanski and Simberloff 1996) havepostulated mechanisms explaining animaldistribution and persistence of populations inpatchy landscapes. These ideas provide muchof the theoretical foundation for conservationbiology. Although the original concept of ametapopulation as "a population ofpopulations" has expanded to include otherspatial population structures, includingmainland-island (Hanski and Gilpin 1991) andsource-sink metapopulations (Pulliam 1998),the focus remains on connectivity.

According to these theories, fragmentationdecreases accessibility, availability, andproductivity of secluded habitats; theremnants of which are often arranged acrossthe landscape as island-like patches. Althoughisland attributes such as size, distance frommainland, and accessibility to colonizingorganisms clearly influence speciescomposition, community structure, andcommunity processes, the consequences ofthese for ecosystem functioning are littleunderstood. If, however, we are to establishbiological priorities for conservation, we needa firm understanding of how geographyinteracts with species to shape the evolutionof species, ecological relationships, andlandscape processes.

Very few studies have evaluated theresponse of large terrestrial predators tonaturally discontinuous landscapes. In part,this is due to a lack of pristine sites to carryout such research. Nevertheless, clarifyingthe relationship between the geographicstructure of true island systems, connectivity,and distribution of large mammals is a neededlink between theory and application (Burkey1995; Alcover 1998). In that regard, theCentral Coast provides a valuableopportunity for scientists to studyevolutionary and landscape processes in atrue island environment under naturalconditions. Documenting the responses to anaturally fragmented island environmentprovides a reference for comparison withsimilar studies conducted on land.

COASTAL WOLVES ANDCONNECTIVITYOur ongoing studies of the behavior andecology of coastal gray wolves are helpingconservation biologists evaluate and refineprevailing theories about connectivity. Thewolf is the most vagile of all large terrestrialpredators. On land, they are capable oftraveling distances of 50 kilometers in a singleday. Dispersal distances of several hundredkilometers are common and movementsmore than 1,000 km have been documented(Fritts 1983; Boyd et al. 1995, Mech et al.1995, Paquet and Carbyn 2003). Wolves usedifferent habitats within their territories atdifferent times of the year (Paquet andCarbyn 2003). Depending upon theavailability of prey they may move longdistances, through corridors with fewresources, to seasonal use areas. In the springthey will move to a den site. Activities andmovements will center on the den until thepups can travel with the pack.

Well adapted to the marine environment,

many coastal wolves are island dwellerswhose territories can include groups ofislands. Consequently, movement withinterritories requires traveling on land andbetween landmasses, which can meanswimming in open ocean between islands asdistant as 13 kilometers (Darimont andPaquet 2002). Dispersing and travelinganimals may need to cross expanses ofinhospitable terrestrial and aquatic habitat.Island topography, island-to-island distance,island size, island productivity, wind, watertemperature, and water currents likelycombine to affect the frequency and successof these movements. Many of the prey uponwhich wolves depend for their survival, aswell as other carnivores (e.g., black bears,grizzly bears) with which they compete,should be similarly influenced. We arecurrently testing these hypotheses usinggenetic samples collected from wolves livingon multiple islands. The information derivedfrom the samples can tell us which islands arebeing used by which wolves, how frequentlydispersers reproduce successfully, whichisland populations are related, and which areisolated. In other words, we can begin toevaluate the effectiveness of landscapelinkages in maintaining connectivity amongdifferent populations of wolves.

For large carnivores such as wolves theenergetic needs are substantial, particularlywhile raising young. Thus, demands for foodcould influence island hopping behavior asmuch as the physical landscape. Thesemovements might be regular and predictabledepending upon the species and the season,or random; depending upon varying climaticconditions and availability of food or otherresources. We believe the relationshipbetween use of food resources andconnectivity is an important but poorlyunderstood consideration. On isolatedislands, our wolf foraging data suggest thatpredator-prey dynamics are inherentlyunstable and can result in declines in preypopulations (Darimont et al in press). Sitkablack-tailed deer, the main prey of coastalwolves, cannot immigrate fast enough toremote islands to replace individuals killed bywolves. Reduced numbers of prey invariablylead to fewer predators. Becauseconnectivity is restricted, these islandsbecome temporary mortality sinks, resultingin ephemeral populations of deer and wolves.Without wolves, deer slowly recolonizeisolated islands and the cycle of depletionrepeats when wolves return. Consequently,and contrary to predictions based on abioticfactors only, we suspect that wolves arecompelled to move more frequently amongisolated landmasses just to survive.

Although water barriers may constraindispersal of predator and prey, our work alsosuggests that the ocean augments the foodavailable on land (Darimont and Reimchen2002; Darimont et al 2003; Darimont et al inpress). Coastal wolves feed on deer, moose,goat, salmon, clams, crabs, and marine carrionsuch as beached seals and whales. In thisrespect, many of BC’s islands are notimpoverished fragments, as other oceanic

168 Last of the best

9Last of the best

islands have been described (Brotons et al.,2003; see also Dunning et al., 1992; Fahrig,1997). In the fall spawning salmon, havingtraveled thousands of kilometers in oceancorridors return to rivers and creeks of theGreat Bear Rainforest, and constitute aconsiderable part of the diet of coastalwolves. Notably, these are the same riversand creeks used by wolves, bears, and otherterrestrial species to travel among estuariesand access inland forests. Like bears, wolvesact as vectors by transporting marinenutrients from waterways along networks ofintersecting trails into the regions’ ancientforests. Abandoned salmon carcasses andwolf feces and urine feed a diversity of usersand become important fertilizers in nutrient-limited coastal ecosystems.

For all coastal mammals that travelthrough water corridors, human disturbancessuch as boat traffic can disrupt or impedemovements in much the same way that carsand trains do on land. Waves from large boatscan overturn swimming animals and humansharass and kill wildlife as the animals travelbetween islands. Whereas killer whales,which have been documented preying onmoose and deer swimming between islands,can also pose a lethal threat, we believe

that geography that includes islands asuseful habitat predisposes wildlife tooverexploitation by humans. Guide outfittersin the Great Bear Rainforest commonly usejet boats for river access to otherwiseremote and secure wildlife habitat (Paquet and Darimont pers. obs.). In essence,coastlines and river systems are analogousto roads, providing humans access to remoteareas and opportunities for disruptingconnectivity via disturbance. In southeasternAlaska, for example, humans who gainedaccess by boat to areas otherwise securewere responsible for more than 50% of allwolves killed by hunters and trappers(Person 2000). In this respect, long, narrowislands pose greater risk for wildlife thanround islands of equal size. The latter providemore security because the interior of theisland is more difficult to reach and theexposed coastline is proportionately less thannarrow islands.

Because of its remoteness, uniquelandscape, and pristine condition, the GreatBear Rainforest is a valuable place for thepursuit of conservation research andprotection. Insights gained here about therole of connectivity in sustaining thenatural environment, and about those

species whose survival depends on theintactness of that environment, cancontribute to the designs of conservationreserves worldwide. In the face of theongoing or impending threats of industriallogging, oil and gas extraction, aquaculture,recreational activities, and marine traffic,we hope that caution prevails untilknowledge is sufficient to make informeddecisions about the destiny of theGreat Bear Rainforest. Full protection shouldbe among the preferred options. Our hopeis that this, the Last of the Best, canremain “naturally” fragmented.

Paul Paquet is an adjunct professor withthe Faculty of Environmental Design at theUniversity of Calgary (ppaquet@sasktel.net).He has been studying wolves and other largecarnivores throughout the world for morethan 30 years, and serves on the WildlandsProject’s Board of Directors. ChrisDarimont is in the Department of Biology,University of Victoria; Chris Genovall isexecutive director of the RaincoastConservation Society, British Columbia,and Faisal Moola is a forest ecologistwith Raincoast Conservation Society,British Columbia.

Photo: UKWCT

The Historyof Wolves inIreland

The Historyof Wolves inIreland

The Historyof Wolves inIreland

10 The History of Wolves in Ireland

by Kieran Hickey

Figure 1. Locations mentioned in text.

Wolves have been present in Ireland from atleast 20,000 years ago right up to 1786 andpossibly even as late as 1810. The earliestdata comes from bone caves in a number oflocations throughout Ireland where wolfbones have been recovered and dated. Thelast authenticated date for the killing of awolf in Ireland is 1786.This occurred on Mt.Leinster, Co. Carlow after a farmer had anumber of sheep killed by a lone wolf whichwas subsequently hunted down and killed bythe wolf-hounds of John Watson ofBallydarton in Co. Carlow . However, thereare a number of claims for later dates forwolves being killed right up to 1810 in Co.Kerry but these have yet to be fullyauthenticated (Figure 1).This is considerablylater than England,Wales and Scotland.

As a result of the long history of wolves inIreland there is an enormous wealth ofevidence of their existence, much of whichhas been overlooked in the past. Thisincludes evidence from a wide variety ofsources including archaeological, folklore,place names, monastic annals and a hugevariety of other later historical documentarydata. Of course the existence of the Irishwolf dog or hound is evidence alone of asignificant wolf population stretching backthousands of years.

FolkloreWolves play a very important part in Irishfolklore in a large number of ways. Theseinclude their association with many of thegreat Irish myths and legends, secondly in theform of common stories about encounterswith wolves and thirdly the use of pieces ofwolves as medicine and charms against eviland ill health. For example the wearing of aband of wolf skin like a girdle wasconsidered a preventative for the fallingsickness. One of the most surprising folkloreaspects was the belief that one man andwoman from the barony of Ossorypredominantly in Co. Kilkenny had to

11The History of Wolves in Ireland

Figure 2. Location of English language wolf place names in Ireland.

become wolves for a period of 7 years, thishelps to explain beliefs in such creatures aswerewolves.

Even today some customs survive relatingto wolves. There is a custom at funerals atthe Gate Cemetery, Ogonnelloe, Co. Clare.The cemetery is medieval in date and walledand located in the centre of a field. Themourners carry the coffin around thecemetery and place it on the ground outsidethe walls of the cemetery, so that the wolveswould not know where the corpse wasburied.This rather gruesomely suggests thatthere was a fear that wolves might disturbnew graves in their search for food.

Place namesThere is a considerable number of placenames in Ireland associated with wolves, afew of these are in English e.g.Wolf Island inLough Gill in Co. Sligo (Figure 2). Howeverthe vast majority of them are hidden in placenames in Irish. This is because there are a

number of Irish words for wolves includingMac-tire (translates as son of the country)e.g. the townland of Isknamacteera in Co.Kerry, faolchu (translates as evil hound) e.g.Feltrim Hill, Co. Dublin and numerousplacenames with breagh (translates as wolf)and many variations on this e.g. Breagh (wolfplain/field) in Drumcree, Co. Armagh andBreaghva (wolf plain/field) in Kilrush, Co.Clare. In all over 20 of the 32 counties ofIreland have placenames linked to wolves.

HistoricalThere is a vast array of historicaldocumentary information on wolves inIreland from the ogam stones (inscriptionstones using a simple alphabet dating fromthe 4th to the 7th centuries) and overlapwith the start of the monastic annals in the6th and 7th centuries right up to the end ofthe 18th century. These include lists ofanimals found in Ireland in the monasticannals, brehon laws (ancient Gaelic legal

system), legislation and bounties, earlynatural histories and descriptions of thecountry, descriptions of wolf encounters, thehunting of wolves, wolf attacks on farmanimals and very rarely humans and inletters and diaries. This historical evidencesuggests that wolves occurred throughoutthe island of Ireland and none of the 32counties is without some reference to them.Below are a small number of the severalhundred historical references to wolvesin Ireland.

In the eighth century the monk Nenniusdescribing the wonders of Ireland that withthe exception of the mouse, the wolf and thefox, that Ireland does not currently orpreviously have any other noxious animals.

The wolf was considered the principalpredator of livestock, particularly lambs andcalves. As a result wolf-hunting wasconsidered a public duty and according to a9th century Behon law-text a client musthunt wolves once a week.

The Annals of Connacht for 1420 statethat many persons were killed by wolves inthat year (Kelly, 1997).

In a written description of Irelandcompiled for Sir John Perotte, the LordDeputy of Ireland in January 1584 it wassuggested that leases for tenants shouldinclude provision for the trapping and killingof what were described as ravening anddevouring wolves and this was to be donewith traps, snares or other devices.

Lord William Russell, Lord-Deputy ofIreland records in his diary that on 26th May1596 he and Lady Russell went wolf huntingat Kilmainham, which at that time was quiteclose to Dublin city and now would beconsidered part of the central city area.

A letter for 1611 notes that Roger Brabenin Kinalmeaky, Co.Cork is mainly concernedwith the growth of his stud of horsesbut also states that a colt had been killedby a wolf.

The History of Wolves in Irelandx12

Photo: UKWCT

It is stated in the description attached tothe Down Survey Map of Ballybay, Co. Offaly(1655-1656) that few sheep were keptin that barony on account of the prevalenceof wolves.

An observer writing about Co. Leitrim in1683 was able to say that the wolves whichwere previously very numerous were nowvery scarce.

In 1698 in the stock book ofWilliam Conyngham in Co. Down theloss of a two-year-old from his herdof black cattle is noted as killed by a wolfwithout any indication that the incidentwas particularly remarkable.

In 1710 or 1714 (depending upon author)a last presentment was made by BrianTownsend to the Grand Jury in Co. Cork forkilling wolves i.e. to claim the bounty.

One of the last wolves in Ireland waskilled near Louisburg, Co. Mayo in 1745.

It is asserted by many persons of weightand veracity that a wolf was killed in theWicklow Mts. as recently as 1770.

How did wolves survive in Ireland inthe historical period.Wolves survived in Ireland up until the endof the 18th century due to a number offactors.The first of these was the extensivewilderness areas that existed around theisland of Ireland at least up until 1700.Theseincluded extensive mountain ranges andlarge forests with few human inhabitants.Ireland’s population in the 1600’s wasprobably around 1.5 million. So there wereextensive areas for them to hunt andbreed, unaffected or lightly affected byhuman activities.

The evidence for Ireland suggests thatpack sizes were small, probably consisting ofno more than the dominant breeding pairand one of two other adult wolves, juvenilesand that year’s cubs.This small pack size wasa reflection of the relative scarcity of largemammals such as deer and the absence offarm animals in many of the forest andmountain areas. Interestingly like urban foxestoday there is evidence which shows that

wolves were skulking around the outskirtsof Dublin city and Cork city scavenging forfood e.g. Howel an Alderman of Cork city,wrote in a letter dated 1698 of having bothwolves and foxes in the district.Population estimatesBased on the evidence available it is possibleto start to crudely estimate wolf populationnumbers in Ireland for a number of timeperiods.The first approach is to look at therecords of trade and export of wolf skinsfrom Ireland.The murage charter of 1361 forGalway city lists the taxable commodities infull and included in the list are wolf-skins.This indicates that wolf-skins were seen as acommon enough commodity worthy oflisting in a tax charter. The evidence of theexport trade comes primarily from the portbooks of key Irish trading ports like Bristol.The Bristol accounts alone show an averageof between 100 and 300 wolf skins exportedfrom Ireland throughout the 1500’s. Mostastonishingly in the tax year 1558-1559 ahigh figure of 961 wolf skins were exported

The History of Wolves in Ireland 13

from Ireland into the port of Bristol alone.This indicates a very substantial wolfpopulation in Ireland throughout the 1500’s.

The second approach was simply a habitatavailability assessment in 1600 based on thelandscape and population assessment ofIreland and the requirements of a wolf packin terms of territory.At this time there werestill large tracts of wilderness areas includingforest, and mountain ideally suited forwolves. It is estimated based on an averagepack size of between 5 and 10 individualsthat these areas could have supported a wolfpopulation of between 400 and 800individual wolves.

The third approach was to look at thefigures paid out for bounties. In 1653 theCromwellian Government set bounties of£6 for a female, £5 for a male, £3 for ahunting juvenile and 10s for a cub. Thesewere very substantial amounts of money atthe time. Only two payments of bountieshave survived and these are in 1655 or 1665(date not legible) a payment of £243 5s 4dfor wolves killed in just Cos. Galway, Mayo,Sligo and parts of Co. Leitrim. Unfortunatelyno breakdown of the figure is given, but itcan be assumed that the figure represents amixture of females, males, juveniles and cubsas it is likely that wolves would have beenhunted pack by pack.This figure can be takento represent a wolf kill in this area ofbetween 75 and 150 wolves and indicates asignificant wolf population in this part of thecountry, baring in mind this area is lessthan 25% of the size of the island of Irelandas a whole.

The second bounty figure of £3,847 5s isgiven for bounties for all of Ireland paid outbetween July 1649 and November 1656, aperiod of seven and a half years. Thisrepresents an average pay out of £513 perannum and indicates a wolf kill of between200 and 400 individuals. Clearly, to sustainthis loss the actual population of wolveswould have been considerably larger thanthis, possibly between 600 and 800 ormore individuals.

Putting all these figure together it is clearthat Ireland had a very significant wolf

population certainly in the 1500’s and theearly 1600’s probably in excess of athousand individuals, probably lower than athousand individuals in the mid 1600’s and arapid decline throughout the late 1600’s and1700’s until the last one was gone in 1786 orpossibly later.

Causes of exterminationThe extermination of the wolf from the Irishlandscape resulted from a number of factors.These include significant landscape change, inparticular the loss of most of the remainingtracts of native oak forest, a growingpopulation and as a result a pushing offarming into areas not previously involved inagriculture during the late 1600s and 1700s.These two factors would have significantlyreduced the areas in which wolves couldbreed undisturbed and intensified thepressure on the existing wolf population.

The next factors are legislation andbounties in particular that of theCromwellian Government in Ireland in the1650s. The new settlers from England andScotland were horrified to discover thatthere was significant wolf population in thecountry and a serious threat to themselvesand their livestock. In some of the literatureat this time Ireland is even referred to as'wolf-land'. Very substantial bounties wereintroduced for wolf kills and this led to thesystematic hunting of wolves and theirclearance from areas around the countryeventually leading to large areas being devoidof wolves throughout the latter half of the1600s. This even led to the arrival of anumber of professional wolf hunters intoIreland to help carry out the extermination.In 1653 Captain Edward Piers was grantedland in Co. Meath on condition that he

destroys 14 wolves over 5 years or forfeit£100 annually - a very considerable sum.

By the early 1700s the wolf population inIreland was in serious decline and probablyonly confined to a few small areas wherethey remained well away from humans. Thedefinite last kill of a wolf in Ireland occurredin 1786, there are a few references to wolvesstretching up to 1810, but these are not yetfully authenticated.

This brief article is only a small flavour ofwhat has been accumulated on wolves inIreland and is part of ongoing research intothe natural and cultural history of wolves inIreland and will be published in book formatin 2006.

LiteratureFairley J. (1984) An Irish Beast Book:ANatural History of Ireland’s Furred Wildlife,Belfast,The Blackstaff Press.Harting J.E. (1880) British Animals Extinctwithin Historic Times, London,Truber and Co.Hickey K. R. (2000) A Geographicalperspective on the decline andextermination of the Irish Wolf canis lupus– An initial assessment, Irish Geography,Vol.33 (2), p185-198.Available online atwww.ucd.ie/gsi/journal.html and then lookup Vol. 33, No.2 where there isdownloadable pdf file of the completearticle.Hickey K. R. (2003) Wolf: Forgotten IrishHunter,Wild Ireland, No. 3, p10-13.

AcknowledgementsMy thanks to Dr. Siúbhan Comer fordrawing the two maps.

by Bill Lynn

ETHOS - Wolves Are Indicators of Moral Health14

Welcome to our new syndicated column on ethics by Bill Lynn, Founder and Senior Ethics Advisor of Practical Ethics(www.practicalethics.net).

Ethics is more than just a philosophy, it informs every aspect of what we do, how we live and how we treat others. Byothers, we mean this in the plural sense: other races, other creeds, other species. Bill is someone who thinks and caresdeeply about our attitudes towards others, and especially towards species that are perceived in a negative way, such asthe wolf.

We invite you to critically analyse and reflect on what is presented and to join in the debates that arise from this.

Wolves Are Indicatorsof Moral Health

Photo: Grupo Lobo

The best columns are a kind of conversation,between author and readers and responders,and most importantly, between the ideas thatsprout up in a dialogue. So I paused a goodlong time before starting this essay, askingmyself how to best start a conversation aboutethics, and how it informs our outlook onpeople, animals and nature.

‘Ethics you say! Heaven help us’. Oh, it’s notso bad. Ethics is not about rigid rules orfinger-wagging diatribes. It is really about themoral values that inform (or should inform)‘how we ought to live’. So allow me to startwith a subject that is surprisingly concrete --the ethics of wolf recovery.

Wolves speak to me like few other species.Wolves are indispensable ‘top carnivores’ thatpromote the health of ecosystems, as well asa ‘flagship species’ whose cache helps protector restore other animals and plants that arenot so charismatic. These are the usualreasons we hear for wolf recovery fromadvocates, educators and scientists. I don’tdisagree, but taken alone these reasons seemrather bloodless. Wolves are more than aresource to nature and society. Rather, theyare part of a rich tapestry of natural life andhuman culture, one we are only beginning tounderstand and value.

I seek a richer appreciation of wolves inpart because of my life’s experience. I havekeen childhood memories of wolves passingby our cabin in northern Ontario.They werewelcomed visitors, who shared the landscapewith us.My sister and I were taught to respecttheir beauty, their role in nature and theirwild ferocity. So as a young man, I wasastonished by the willful ignorance, vehementhatred and casual brutality towards wolves inEurope and North America. Wolves preyedon my intellectual curiosity as well, and ingraduate school I became fascinated withtheir links to culture, science and policy. Overthe years, I’ve come to believe that learning tolive with wolves is a precondition (and

wolves don’t belong indowntown London or yourchicken coop, but we knowthat wolves don’t requirewilderness, and there areplenty of other spaces wherethey can survive apartfrom or along-side humansettlements.

Still, the full recovery ofwolves will entail adaptationsin our way of life. Forinstance, wolves are attractedto easy meals, and this canlead to conflicts withdomestic animals. Learning tolive with wolves can be assimple as securing ourgarbage, not leaving food onthe deck, bringing companionanimals indoors at night, andusing guard dogs to protectsheep and cattle in fenced oropen fields. These are bestpractices we should employanyway, and the effortinvolved is minor.

Wolves are not the onlyway to explore questionsabout humanity’s relationshipto animals and nature. Theyhave, nonetheless, a specialresonance in many humancultures -- as beasts of wasteand desolation, as vitalecological agents, as creatures exemplifyingthe best of humanity, as wild beings we canrespect in all their familiarity and strangeness.Wolves move people, pro and con, and thisopens up possibilities for dialogue abouthuman-animal relations.Wolves keep our feeton the ground, helping us to remember thatthe point of ethical dialogue is the well-beingof people, animals and nature.

Finally, wolves are a cogent indicator of ourown moral health. If we can learn to live withwolves,we will per force have taken significantsteps towards living sustainably and healingour relationship with nature. This is a moraltask worth embracing! If however we cannot

15ETHOS - Wolves Are Indicators of Moral Health

Bill LynnBill Lynn is the founder and Senior Ethics Advisor of Practical Ethics, an independent consultancycommitted to the well-being of people, animals and nature. Practical Ethics helps individuals andgroups explore their values, then develop the personal and organizational capacity to put thesevalues to work in the real world.

Bill received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Minnesota (2000), where he studiedethics, environmental studies, political geography, interpretive social science, and qualitativemethods. A founding editor of the journal Ethics, Place and Environment, he is a member of theEthics Specialist Group of the IUCN (World Conservation Union), and Assistant Professor in theCenter for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts University.

Working in the broad arenas of animal ethics and global ethics, he writes and speaks on animalwelfare, wildlife conservation, environmental sustainability and global security. In addition, headvises organizations on values messaging and leadership ethics.At present, he is finishing a book,Practical Ethics: Moral Understanding in a More Than Human World.

Photo: Grupo Loboexample) for healing our troubledrelationship with the planet.

Wolf recovery -- their conservation,protection and restoration -- is acontroversial subject.To date, the controversyhas been addressed through a policy processthat sees wolves as a ‘natural resource’available for ‘sustained harvest’ and requiring‘rational’ wildlife management as driven by‘science’.This is coded language. It implies thatwolves are no different than any otheragricultural commodity, or that they aresimply functional units of ecosystems.To thinkotherwise is to be muddled, emotional andirrational.This set of coded ideas is nonsense.I’m all for clear-headed management andplanning, but at root, our troubledrelationship with wolves is not and never hasbeen about science. No, the trouble withwolves is a moral conflict over whose well-being ‘counts’ in our personal and politicaldeliberations, and to resolve this trouble, weneed ethics.

Human beings have always existed in amixed community of people and animals, bothwild and domestic. Because our actions haveconsequences for the well-being of others, wehave responsibilities to those in our care oraffected by us. This is the essence of what itmeans to consider the ethical issue of ‘howwe ought to live’.These responsibilities applyto both people and other animals. Moreover,wolves are not biological machines to do withas we will.They are feeling, thinking and socialcreatures, having an intrinsic moral value oftheir own. We use the same reasoning torecognize the moral value of people, andthere is every ethological and ethical reasonto do so for wolves. The notion that wolvesare morally excluded from this considerationsimply because they are not people is aprejudice aptly termed speciesism.

Because wolves are part of a more-than-human moral community, I support theirrecovery across the landscape. They shouldnot be isolated in a gulag of isolated habitats,surround by exclusion and free-fire zones, andsubject to routine and invasive management.They should be free to make their way andtheir living where appropriate. Obviously

learn to live with wolves, we will have failedto address one of the most pressing moralissues of our time.The choice, as with everyethical issue, is ours to make, individuallyand collectively. Let us hope we make theright one.

Cheers, Bill

If you would like to join in the debate onEthics, please write to us:Denise Taylor, Editor – Wolf Print,UK Wolf Conservation Trust, Butlers Farm,Beenham, Reading RG7 5NT oremail: denise.taylor@btinternet.com

New Kids onthe BlockNew Kids onthe Block

by Kirsty Peake

New Kids on the Block16

George Bumann with wolf enthusiasts. Photo: Kirsty Peake

George Bumann discusses the ecology of Yellowstone.Photo: Kirsty Peake

“Four inches!” came the cry from snowcovered ground. “Six and half inches!” cameanother. George Bumann was busy writingdown the figures as they were shouted outby the group of people working in pairs. Wewere digging in the snow frantically and thenmeasuring the length of the willow that wefound. This was our first day on theFebruary 2005 Winter Wolf Discoveryexpedition and George had us helping withresearch. Why were we measuring willow?Well, we asked George the same question towhich he replied that ‘all would be revealed’and ‘that we would have to measure somemore before the end of our visit.’ Later onwhen we measured willow in a different areawe were calling out sixteen to twentyinches. What was the difference? In the firstarea there were no wolves and the elk werestatic and eating all the willow down and inthe second area there were wolves and theelk were being pushed around and thusgiving the willow a chance to grow. Ecologyin action.

Moving on from willow measuring wefound that things had changed with thewolves, particularly since the demise of the

Druid Pack alpha pair. The Leopolds arenow the biggest pack in the Northern Rangeby seven wolves. It is the first naturallyformed pack originating from two lonewolves from different pen releases. AtHellroaring Overlook we pausedoccasionally to look for the Geod Pack. Thiswas the site of the last den when wolveswere exterminated in Yellowstone.

One of our regular stops was at SloughCreek. Here the Slough Creek Pack is nowwell established numbering 15, of which 8are pups. There is also an unknown blackmale trying to attach himself to the pack.The alpha and beta males are both collaredand both black in colour. The Alpha Male is490. The Alpha Female is black with a greyface. We climbed up onto ‘Dave’s Hill’, agood vantage point to try and see wolves inthe Slough Creek area. The pack gave us aclue as to their position by giving a shorthowl. We soon had them in the spottingscopes and spent an enjoyable time watchingthem. One of the juveniles was playing witha bone. We were soon quietly laughing atthe antics of this young wolf and its toy. Itwas two bones attached by a joint. The wolf

had hold of one end of this and the otherend was swinging around. You could almostsee it about to happen – the loose end ofthe bone eventually swung enough to hit thewolf on the head. It immediately droppedthe bone and swung round to see what hadhit it! We were then sidetracked by the sightof a golden eagle sitting on top of a deadtree. He was holding his wings out in theearly sun. George quickly produced hisnotebook and drew the tree top and eagle.I gave up on my attempt and George tookpity on me and sketched it in my notebook.We ended up with some spotting scopesfixed on the eagle and others on the wolves.Unknown to us later in our stay we were tofind ourselves really close to a golden eagle.

We stopped off at the Buffalo Ranch forlunch and a warm up. We then set off fromthere to walk/snowshoe up to the RoseCreek Den. Back in 1995 there were threepens; Rose Creek, Crystal and Soda Butte.For the 1996 introduction the Crystal Creekand Soda Butte pens were moved and thendismantled. Of the three pens only the RoseCreek pen remains and probably will remainas it has historical value. Once we arrivedthere we had a good exploration of the site.There is definitely an atmosphere about it.We were also very fortunate to be allowedto snowshoe out to the abandoned RoseCreek pack den. One of us even climbed infor a closer look. Two chambers all dug outby the Alpha female. You can see the marksof her claws on the roof.

New Kids on the Block 17

Eagle and magpie on elk carcass. Photo: Kirsty Peake

Stand Off. Photo: Kirsty Peake

We had a lot of wolf sightings. We saw thefemale wolf referred to as UBlack in a groupof four: a grey male, a pup, a black wolf andUBlack herself. They are known as theSpecimen Ridge group. They don’t become apack until they start breeding and the pupsare alive at the end of the year in which theyare born. The group was bedded down atthe start of the Lamar Valley, between theDruid and Slough packs. We watched fouror five coyote on the group’s kill. They areworth watching as well. There was a lot ofinterpretive body language from the bigmale coyote.

The Druid pack now numbers only seven.The new alpha male is listed as number 480and the alpha female as 286. They weredifficult to find and stayed down the far endof the Lamar Valley towards Soda Butte. Lifecould become difficult for the Druids withthe Slough Creeks flexing their muscles andmoving into Lamar Valley.

We never saw the Druids this time butsaw the Sloughs many times. On anotheroccasion we watched them playing and oneof the wolves was jumping up at a tree tochase the ravens off: one grey and one blackrolling over together. The grey was on itsback, feet in the air and the black onejoined in and we watched two wolves‘mucking about’ with their feet waving aboutin the air!

Driving through the Lamar Valley wesuddenly spotted a group of wolves at theDruid’s Rendezvous site. Was this theDruids at last? No, this was the SloughCreek pack right in the middle of Druid

country. They moved on to a kill, obviouslytheirs, and then moved off again in a veryrelaxed manner. We watched them untilthey went out of sight. We climbed pack inthe bus and driving along saw a few othervehicles parked with cameras out.

We stopped and very quietly climbed out.We saw the Big Horn Sheep but felt therehad to be something else to generate thelevel of interest. We were not disappointed.We were pointed to a particular point andstood amazed at what we were seeing. Abull elk had fallen down the steep screedslope and died. He had landed upside down

with his antlers stuck into the ground. Ontop of him was the most beautiful goldeneagle. We stayed and watched him for a longtime. Many photographs were taken,especially when the magpies were beside theeagle for the size comparison. He spreadout his wings on several occasions and wasin the American parlance ‘awesome’.

On our last morning we returned toLamar Valley and the Slough Creek kill. Wenoticed that there was a coyote on it but nosign of the wolves. We moved up the valleya bit as we had been told that the Druidswere bedded down near Soda Butte. On the

New Kids on the Block18

Yellowstone map annotated by George Bumann.

way we spotted some wolves moving backdown the valley towards the kill. Westopped and soon established that thesewere once again the Slough Creek pack inDruid territory. The coyote was not awareof their approach but suddenly realised thatdanger was close and turned and ran. Oneof the juveniles went from the wolf lopestraight into overdrive. We stood, stunned,as we watched the distance between thetwo disappear. All the other wolves hadjoined in. The coyote had left it too late andwas soon caught, overwhelmed and killed.We were all quiet as we stood and watchedthe wolves lay down and then they had ashort howl.

We got back into the bus and drove downto the Buffalo Ranch. Everyone there wasout with spotting scopes and watching. Wequickly set up scopes and with NormanBishop and his group on one side of thedrive and George with us on the other wewatched unfold before us the most amazingscene. The Sloughs had continued down thevalley. Two wolves harassed a bison andwere kick so badly that they were lifted inthe air and then lay motionless in the snow.We thought they had been killed but no,very groggily after a few minutes they got upand followed the rest of the pack. The packthen separated a small group of six bisonfrom the rest and drove them up hill. Asthey were going up hill the wolves then cutout the last bison, a female. They thenturned her down hill constantly attackingher hindquarters. She spun on her front

legs, kicked with her back legs, charged withher head all to no avail, she was greatlyoutnumbered. You have to remember that awolf has a bite pressure of 1500lbs. Thewhole event lasted 50 minutes – quickcompared with the normal 9 – 12 hours. Itwas one of those events that one wanted towatch but also didn’t want to watch.

Right from the start of the chase theravens appeared. At the end I counted over40 at the kill. A most remarkablepartnership between wolf and raven exists inthe park.

The Slough Creek wolves are definitelythe ‘new kids on the block’

Each year wolves kill two coyotes in view.Three out of every 100 kills are bison. It wasan unforgettable last morning in Yellowstone.It was a difficult morning for some of thegroup and one person said ‘I’ll never be ableto tell anyone about what I have justwitnessed’. George tried to put intoperspective: ‘each wolf will need 20lbs ofmeat, bears, when they are about, need 16lbseach; coyotes 12lbs each; eagles 3lbs each;ravens 2lbs each plus their ‘stash’. So thereare 15 + 1 wolves in the Slough Creek Pack.I counted at least 40 ravens and as we leftthe eagles arrived. Once the wolves had hadtheir fill the coyotes would move in. We hadseen five members of Lamar pack ofcoyotes. No bears in February! Don’tforget all the little animals that live under thesnow and will also feed. The bison was afemale and would weigh approximately1300lbs. And finally there are currently too

many bison in the park – 4,200 from just 23.I shall leave the maths to you to work outhow long the carcass would last before theywould have to hunt again.

I have mentioned George Bumannthroughout this article and I am sure you aresaying who is George Bumann? George is anaturalist in the classical tradition and aneducator for Yellowstone AssociationInstitute. He holds a Masters in WildlifeScience and a BSc in Forest Biology. He hasconducted field research in predator andscavenger ecology. He has taught variousaudiences spanning youth groups anduniversity classes. He spends more than1500 hours per year in Yellowstone NationalPark teaching, guiding (primarily focused onwolf and bear ecology) and making detailedstudies for his artwork. He also teams upwith Kirsty and Alan Peake on their WinterWolf Discovery trips each February andleads the group.

You can have the opportunity of listening,meeting and talking with George at theUKWCT October Seminar. The UKWCTtogether with Kirsty and Alan Peake haveinvited George to come and give apresentation. His topic will be Ecology inAction: The Yellowstone Wolf Experience.Don’t hesitate book your place with theUKWCT.

For more details of the February 2006Winter Wolf expedition contact Kirsty andAlan Peake on 01364 621287 or emailwwd@kajpeake.ndo.co.uk or visit thewebsite www.peakeservices.co.uk

19

Book ReviewDecade of the Wolf: Returning the Wildto YellowstoneThe image of wolves running free throughYellowstone National Park has become theultimate symbol of the American wilderness.The release of thirty-one Canadian gray wolvesin 1995 and 1996 began what is arguably themost successful, and at the same timecontroversial feat of conservation in ournation's history.

Spring 2005 marked the 10th anniversary ofthe wolves’ release, and Ferguson and Smithoffer the inside scoop on this historicpreservation effort, and its incredible effect onthe Yellowstone ecosystem, as well as what thefuture may hold for other threatened speciesprotected under the Endangered Species Act.The book includes stunning, never-before-seenimages, and amazing stories about the wolves’interactions with elk, bison, grizzly bears, andeach other.

Ferguson, a gifted writer and speaker, is theaward-winning author of 15 books on natureand science, and has written for publicationsincluding Outside,Vanity Fair, Men’s Journal, andthe Los Angeles Times. He is a regular

contributor to NPR and other public radiostations across the country, and has beenfeatured on E-Town and NPR’s Living on Earth.

Wolf Project leader and biologist Dr.Douglas Smith has extensively studied wolvesfor 24 years, and has worked on thereintroduction since the program's inception.Doug has been interviewed by the TomBrokaw, the New York Times, the Los AngelesTimes, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune,and National Geographic. He has been a

Book review

consultant and featured personality for twoNational Geographic films on wolves, and iscurrently technical editor for an ongoing wolfdocumentary by the BBC.

Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild toYellowstoneby Gary Ferguson and Douglas Smith, Ph.D.The Lyons Press32 page full-color insert / 240 pages / NatureApril 2005ISBN: 1-59228-700-X

Attendees at our twice-yearly seminars havealready heard from biologists and conservationistsinvolved with the project such as Ed Bangs andCarter Neimeyer. This autumn we welcome GeorgeBumann as a guest speaker, and to coincide withthis, Kirsty Peake a regular contributor to WolfPrint, has written an article that gives fascinatinginsights into interactions within the Park (seePage 16).

Copies of Decade of the Wolf canbe ordered from the UK Wolf ConservationTrust, and will also be available at theAutumn seminar.

Grupo Lobo are pleased to announce the

II Congress on the Iberian Wolfto be held November 10-13, 2005,

at the School of Agrarian Sciences of Castelo Branco(http://www.esa.ipcb.pt/).

This meeting intends to give continuity to the first Iberian Congress, organized by Grupo Lobo – SECEM (Spain) in collaboration withGrupo Lobo (Portugal) that took place November 12-15, 1997 in Soria, Spain.

Grupo Lobo has been working for wolf conservation and its habitat in Portugal since 1985. During the past two decades Grupo Lobo hasbeen developing research projects focused on wolf ecology, behaviour, parasitology, genetics, human-wolf relationships, namelyanthropology and ethnology, public attitudes, as well as putting in practice wolf conservation measures such as the use of livestock guardingdogs. Simultaneously, Grupo Lobo has been promoting environmental awareness activities targeted to different publics: giving talks onschools, editing information material, presenting an exhibition across the country, and organising visits to the Iberian Wolf Recovery Centre,which receives thousands of visitors every year.

The Congress is being organized by Grupo Lobo in collaboration with the School of Agrarian Sciences of Castelo Branco, A.RE.NA -Asesores en Recursos Naturales (Spain), SECEM - Sociedad Española para la Conservación y Estudio de los Mamíferos (Spain) and ASCEL - Asociación para la Conservación y Estudio del Lobo Ibérico (Spain).

The main topic areas to be addressed are: Biology, Ecology, Genetics, Behaviour, Conservation and Management, Human Dimensions,Livestock Protection Methods, and Cultural and Anthropological Issues regarding the Iberian wolf.

Deadline for registration and submission of presentation proposals is September 30th, 2005.

For further information please contact us by e-mail (loboiberico@fc.ul.pt).

Look forward to see you in Portugal!