Biologist removes cable snare from one of two Denali wolves
Published Tuesday, May 6, 2008
A biologist on Friday removed a cable snare embedded in the neck of a wolf that officials at Denali National Park and Preserve were worried might be an eyesore for tourists and a public relations nightmare for the park service this summer.
National Park Service biologist Tom Meier removed the cable snare loop after shooting the wolf with a tranquilizer dart from a helicopter. The wire cable was embedded about an inch into the muscle of the wolf’s neck, Meier said.
“It was pretty deep, but it didn’t seem that infected,” he said. “It didn’t smell at all.”
The wolf, a large, gray male, was one of two wolves that roamed outside the park and were evidently caught in trappers’ snares on state land in February. The wolves somehow managed to free themselves and return to the park, but the snare loops remained around their necks, causing significant swelling on both wolves’ necks and a bloody, gaping wound on the animal that was captured Friday.
Veterinarian Denise Albert, a local vet who has worked as a veterinarian on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, cleaned the wound and gave the wolf antibiotics. Considering that the wolf still appeared to be in good physical condition after more than two months with the snare around its neck, Meier said it should survive.
“I would imagine in a couple weeks it will be as good as new,” he said.
Meier didn’t weigh the wolf because he didn’t want to hang it upside down due to its injury, but he estimated the wolf’s weight in the 90- to 100-pound range.
Park service officials had been attempting to locate the wolf and remove the snare since it was first reported in the park in late February. The wolf had been seen several times wandering around the entrance to the 6 million-acre park 130 miles south of Fairbanks, but it always disappeared before biologists could get to it.
On Thursday evening, however, after the wolf was seen in the company of another smaller wolf — most likely its mate — by several park service employees near the Savage River Campground at 15 Mile Denali Park Road, Meier assembled a team to capture the wolf Friday.
He contacted Fairbanks helicopter pilot Troy Cambier, who flew to the park Friday morning, and local pilot Dennis Miller, who served as a spotter pilot in his Supercub. It was Miller who first spotted the tracks of the wolves on Friday and tracked them to a ridge near the Savage River bridge.
After Meier darted the wolf from the helicopter, he and Albert landed to remove the snare and check the wound.
The wolf rejoined the smaller wolf that it was traveling with after the operation and the two wolves were seen along the park road on Saturday and Sunday.
The park service interceded because the wolf’s injury was not due to natural causes. Trapping is illegal inside the park and on some state land outside the park but wolves can be taken legally along the Stampede Trail just north of the park boundary.
As he expected, Meier said the cable snare was not heavy enough to hold a wolf, which explains how the wolf may have been able to escape after it was trapped. It’s likely the wolf either broke the cable or chewed through it, he said. Meier estimated the cable to be 1/16-gauge, and standard wolf snares are 1/8-gauge, he said.
Removing the snare will be better for the wolf and tourists alike, he said. Park service officials were worried that the sight of the injured wolf, which may be one that was seen regularly by tourists last summer, would unsettle tourists visiting the park. Shuttle buses will begin ferrying tourists into the park May 20.
“This is turning out to be one of those wolves that people see a lot,” Meier said, referring the wolf’s proximity to the road.
Park spokeswoman Kris Fister said finding the wolf and removing the snare involved “a fortunate set of circumstances.”
Without the fresh snow that fell on Thursday night, park officials said it’s unlikely the wolf could have been tracked down. Meier agreed.
Independent research biologist Gordon Haber, who has studied wolves in Denali for more than 40 years and has long advocated for expanding the no-trapping zone for park wolves on state land, was glad to hear Meier removed the snare, but he said the problem of park wolves being trapped on state land remains.
“Just because they freed one wolf, that’s great, but that’s attacking the problem from a very superficial point,” Haber said.
Wolves in Denali are too valuable scientifically and socially to allow them to be trapped so close to the park, he said.
The park has a population of about 100 wolves in 18 packs.
The other wolf with a snare around its neck has not been spotted in more than a month.
Comments
Good job---Thanks for your efforts!!! I am an avid Hunter, Hiker and Out of Door Enthusiest. I despise trapping just because of incidents like this. I am careful of what I say because I do hunt and and there many anti-hunters out there that would take and use my comments out of context. I am all for extending the no trapping boundry around the park!!!
Wow- I would have liked to see a comment in that first paragraph about the well-being of the wolf. It's sad to think that the first concern of all was that it might be an "...eyesore for tourists and a public relations nightmare..." Here I was, being ridiculous and worrying about whether the wolf was in pain, or if it would even survive. Boy do I feel stupid.
But I would like to thank everyone for helping it anyway, regardless of the motives.
Well now that Mah and Pah R.V. driver have their illusion back, all is well.
Man I am so glad that snare was removed. I am a long time Alaskan and have snared critters and trapped critters in my youth...but I really despise seeing something of this nature happen. That was one ugly wound on its neck and by the looks of the fluids built up in the head and jaw area.. I am sure that wolf didnt sleep well at night. It makes me cringe to think of how that must have felt!! So A BIG THANKYOU to those that helped get it off... I pray he will heal up now and return to normal life. He would have died eventually if the cable has buried deeper and healed over and it remained. I feel SO much better now about it.
A Wolf lover but also an Alaskan Trapper ...... a place for both.
I am appalled by trapping. The animals suffer tremendously, a slow, painful death (if they don't chew their own limbs off first to escape). How anyone with an ounce of humanity in them can sleep at night, knowing the intentional pain and suffering they cause by trapping is beyond comprehension. How do trappers justify this in their minds? Most of the trappers I know have regular full time jobs, so they are not trapping to pay the bills. What enjoyment can someone possibly get out of harming a precious creature? How would any trapper like to be caught in a trap or snare, be in tremendous pain for days or weeks and also starve to death? They wouldn't, and that is what is so sickening!
Wolves are killers and have no problem tearing a peaceful leaf eating moose calf limb from limb.
If the wolf population is not kept down, they breed like rabbits.
Can they still shoot wolves from airplanes?
I think trapping is gross, but I don't judge anyone who traps.
Public relations nightmare for the state, you mean. Stupid headline.
YAY! We have our priorities back! Now we can get the tourists to bring their pomeranians and poodles up here so the eagles can eat too!
2cold4me - you need to take a biology course. Wolves are at the top of the food chain (right under humans) and, as the top predator, cannot possibly "breed like rabbits". They are constrained by the laws of energy transfer up the food chain to only be able to support a relatively small population (compared to rabbits, moose, and caribou, for example). Rabbits being a few rungs lower on the food chain can be supported by the ecological system to "breed like rabbits". Caribou and moose also exist lower on the food chain, as you know ("peaceful leaf eating moose calf"). That's why there are approximately 1 million caribou and an unknown number of rabbits in Alaska and only an estimated 15,000 wolves in the entire state. I don't judge anyone who traps either, just idiots who set sub-standard snares in areas where they are likely to snare wolves.
This news article does start with the quote about keeping the wolf nice and pretty for the tourist. Hard to deny that. But if any of you were listening to NPR this morning you would have heard the interview with the individual that made that comment. He said his primary goal was for the saftey and well being of the wolf but that it will also be a good thing that the tourist don't have to see it. If they had wanted to keep the eye sore of a snare out of the tourist eye they could have just shot the animal. They went through great efforts to make sure the wolf stayed alive. I think that speaks volumes.
I am glad my tax dollars went to spending 10 hours on a helicopter w/ pilot and 8 hours on a super cub/w pilot and had a team of park rangers at $80/hr/per person for weeks now finally finding this wolf. This wolf is worth about....$30 grand. But for the tourism industry.....Priceless. Glad the feds have this money to spend given they could have spent it on bulletproofing our Hummvees in Iraq and Afghanistan instead. Good job Park Service!You guys the bomb!
So what if wolves killing other animals is brutal, and so what if they produce lots of young, the point is, this was done by a human being. Cruelty is cruelty. We are not dumb brutes. We are supposed to act in a humane manner. If a person hunts or traps, that person should behave in a responsibe manner. This whole thing smears legitimate trappers and hunters and should be condemned. The issue isn't this being an "eyesore" as the inflammatory caption writer said, it is basic, humanity vs. brutality.
What a stupid headline and even stupider story!
Yes, the story WAS "stupider" wasn't it? ;-)
To me, trapping is a lazier way to hunt. I mean, it seems easier. Set up a trap, check it every few weeks. The only hard part would be getting out TO the traps, I suppose. I don't know the specifics as I don't hunt, but it seems to me a little easier than spending hours or days outside in the cold, hoping to see an animal. I also believe with comments above that it appears to be cruel and inhumane. Sure people have to hunt, but a few bullets seems a faster way to get the job done.
Do people even set traps in order to eat the meat or simply to collect and preserve the hides to sell????
uafgrad-
If you think trapping seems like a lazy way to hunt (not to mention, cruel, inhumane and unethical), you should look into bear baiting. Now, THAT seems like a lazy way to go about things.
(That's right, folks. You won't convince me otherwise, but I know you'll try.)
2cold4me: akjak already corrected you on your biology, but he missed one crucial point. To paraphrase you: If the human population is not kept down, they breed like rabbits.
As some of the postings on this site make clear, many humans are proud of this fact. So, to paraphrase you again: Can they still shoot humans from airplanes?
Last fall I was doing photography in the Park. I was on the Park road- after sunset- when I spotted two wolves coming down the road- at about mile eight.
Both wolves, a grey one, and a nearly black one, came right past me. So close that they were both about four feet away at one point. They were both traveling down the road- using it as a wolf highway of sorts and were not really interested in me- other than to give me a quick glace as a sort of "hey, how ya doing".
I caught some good photographs of both of them- using a flash.
It would be a real loss for this Alaskan if trappers killed enough wolves to make these sorts of opportunities impossible. The Park is about the only place one can reliably see wolves and bears.
Lets extend the zone as Gordon Haber has suggested. As has been clearly proven here, Park wolves do get caught in these traps that are right next to the Park.
The current practice is a bit like allowing trappers to place their traps in a zoo, eh?
Gordon Haber isn’t he the same nut that said we trapped all the wolves in the park? That was just last year, I remember, woe is the park Coke trapped the last wolf ever. The reality is that 15000 wolves is just an estimate a guess based on the limited game surveys that are done. I can see people’s objection to trapping and hunting I just don’t agree with it. As far as blaming the trapper for this I wouldn’t. This may have been a perfect set for a otter or muskrat. Sometimes no matter how careful you are you get unintended catch. Its just like fishing sometimes you get an Irish lord or the back of your jacket. Oh and Curmudgeon I think the troopers do but only from helicopters.
Hey Sean, that is, unless the helicopter is black. Then it's the U.N.
Sean White- Ahh, the indiscriminate killing of wildlife by trappers. What a good subject.
It happens all the time. Those of us who spend a lot of time in the woods see traps with all sorts of non-target species in them- owls, eagles, camp robbers (grey jays).
And in this case- we have a wolf in a trap that was not designed for a wolf.
Most countries have banned trapping because traps indiscriminately kill or injury whatever animal may wonder into them- like your dogs.
A favorite spot to run/walk dogs near Gilmore Creek was ruined by trappers who insisted on setting their snares right next to the road.
thanks for the lesson.....
truth is I dont know much about this subject...
but I agree that the wolf could have been shot, and that money could have been saved for better purposes.
Now the tourists get to look at the scarred up wolf.
Fact is though, how often do you see a wolf in the first place? 24 years fishing and camping and I only saw a wolf once or twice.
I find it funny when the uninformed talk about expanding the exclusion zone. Go look at a map will you please. I think I heard that the park is larger than the state of Maine. Six million acres, thats one big exclusion zone.
I think the part that many of you are missing out on is that Alaska is not an outdoor Zoo! Its a wild place unlike any other state in the lower 48. There are lots of wolves in Alaska...I have seen them. You have to get away from the road system and state campgrounds to do so. I have also watched video of a pack of wolves killing over 40 Caribou calves (babies)during calving season in a matter of about an hour with no regard what so ever. Running many down into the rocks wher they break legs and are easy to kill. They werent killing to eat, they were killing to kill, thats what they do. I find it so amusing that so many with so little knowledge or experience of how the wild works discriminate what some folks do because its not something you do or even understand. Trapping is not easy, as a matter of fact its a lot of work under some of the most extreme weather conditions and often times quite dangerous. You'll find many experienced trappers missing fingers and toes from frostbite And many of the trappers that I know trap to be able to afford other things in life because there arent many jobs in the remote parts of the state or they simply refuse to live the city life and they have that right. Thankfully Alaska unlike anywhere else in our nation affords them that freedom. If you want to go to an outdoor zoo go to California or Florida but I personally have no desire of turning Alaska into a zoo. This article was stupid because it shows how misconstrued our priorities are, everything balances on public view as opposed to reality. News Flash.......things die in traps and things die when shot....sometimes they get away and die later or heal all together.....wipe your tears and get over it!
Alaskacub-
The issue here is not wildlife conservation. It is about hoping that humans have evolved beyond being barbarians-- or hoping that we have at least learned to quell our barbaric tendencies because we are thinking beings.
I used to trap rabbits when i was a kid with some friends first one we snared it was freaking out and screaming never knew a rabbit could give off a freaky scream like that i myself thought it was a crappy way to kill so i stopped. I personaly dont like trapping but hey if your into that go ahead i guess. The one sentence in the article i dont get is what makes a wolf so scientificly so valuable. What on earth could be so scientifical about a wolf honestly. Its kinda like a wild dog big deal. Do they have magic powers or something can they scientificaly cure disieses or something i dont know about.
I was more anxious to get through the article to see the comments. I figured the earth muffins would be up in arms over this, and I wasn't dissapointed. Thanks for the laughs hippies.
Please don't turn alaska into california.
2cold4me: Was that for the trappers or the enviros? Because with the policies of the state some trappers and hunters will turn it into California faster than environmentalists ever will. Pretty soon we will all be scrambling over a few available sheep tags, and the moose season will be thirty days...all the while idiots will be blaming it on four legged predators instead of the two-legged variety.
It seems to me that wolves won this one and trappers lost. I compliment those who remarked on the Parks folks only concern were about what the tourist would think.
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Don't forget about the wolf that attacked that little kid in Ft. Yukon a couple weeks ago. Or was it a dog? What difference does it make anyway? We should kill all wolves that attack our kids even if they are dogs or cats or geeses.
If you make it more difficult to hunt and trap, via more rules and permits, eventually the state will see it as a source of revenue.
They will use things like the "helicopter ambulance injured wolf photo shoot" to justify more state or federal intervention into a minorities lifestyle (trappers).
Before you know it you will need a permit and a biological study to cut down your own tree! Like the one that cost me THOUSANDS.
You folks in Alaska will be dialing 1-800-WAA-AAAH if that happens to you!
california
Imusuallyright
Define barbarian living please. I believe what you would call barbarian, many would call a normal way of life.
AKA
You might want to get your facts straight on why and where I live. And your name is..........? Did you have anything to add about the actual thread or just had to reply to me?
Sounds like some of the people posting here are offended by life. Maybe they are trying to "Californicate" Alaska. By the way Gordon Haber is not a credible person, since he paid by the Environmental Terrorist groups. Claims to be a biologist?? Perhaps he should be called a "bio-prostitute" since lacks objectivity.. Since some here seem to hate trapping so much, just want you to know that I think Vegans, Granola and Spandex clad bike riders are repulsive !!!! They should be banned from all National Parks.
BARBARIAN(my definition): A person who inflicts unnecessary pain and suffering upon others using archaic means either for sport or under the misguided rationale that "it's necessary to make a living".
Thanks for the clarification. I was under the belief that the defintion for the term "TRAPPER" was much simpler. Something like "one who traps animals, mostly for the resale or use of their furs". Thats not near as descriptive as your definition.
There's almost always more to the story... if you care to look.
AKCUB,
What is the definition of someone from FLORIDA posing as a real ALASKAN?
Dude.... you actually joined the newsminer just to mess with me? C'mon, just call me or email me!
Since when did state Officials earn $80/hour?
If you want to moan about mis-management of funds, then try putting a special tax on every movie made in Hollywood and every celebrity who earns over $100,000 a year. Use THAT money to pay for the bullet-proofing of HUMVEEs AND the saving of Wolves....
You can't get mad that money was spent on this, not in all seriousness you can't, otherwise, you'd go insane at all the money wasted on designer clothes, fancy restuarants, marketing stupid products, etc.
It's simple: The wolf was suffering. Now it is not suffering. Money well spent. Limbless moose cubs aside...
:)
Saved to kill another day?
California state officials in charge of monitoring and fining people for cutting their own trees down charge $140 an hour.
What's a moose cub--or a bear calf? ;)
Hey you Limey B I didn't say anything about State workers. The feds are the ones squandering this money, I'm sorry ....my money. Don't I get to have a voice in how it's squandered? They should find out who the DA trapper was that didn't get to this wolf and shoot it before it chewed through the cable.
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