7/8/2023 0 Comments Wolf howling picture![]() These were the last wolves released into the park as officials believed that the natural reproduction and survival were sufficient to obviate additional releases. Seventeen additional wolves captured in Canada arrived in Yellowstone in January 1996 and were released into the park in April 1996 from the Chief Joseph, Lone Star, Druid Peak, and Nez Perce pens. In March 1995, the pens were opened and between March 21 and March 31, 1995, all 14 wolves were loose in Yellowstone. They were released into three acclimation pens-Crystal Creek, Rose Creek and Soda Butte Creek in the Lamar Valley in Northeast East Yellowstone National Park. These wolves arrived in Yellowstone in two shipments-Janu(8 wolves) and Janu(6 wolves). and Canadian wildlife officials captured 14 wolves from multiple packs east of Jasper National Park, near Hinton, Alberta, Canada. At that point, I knew that my going against what felt good and not photographing captive animals, in the end, provided a reward I didn't really expect when I found I could continue my wolf photography on exclusively wild wolves. Those wild wolf populations soon grew to the point where they could be photographed wild and free. Thankfully after a long quest by many conservation organizations, the Wolf was reintroduced to the lower 48 states with populations in Yellowstone and Idaho. My rationale was that it would be good for wolves in the long run, even though I was not thrilled with working with and seeing these wolves in captivity it was what I could do to help these animals return to their natural habitat. ![]() With the motivation to help the reintroduction of wolves I became a captive wolf photographer, not exactly what I had planed for my wildlife photography career. I checked with the editors I had worked with and they were ok with photographing captive animals to promote the cause. ![]() In my search for wolves, I came across a person who owned several and had used them in a couple of the popular wildlife TV shows on PBS. Conservation and wildlife publications were regularly contacting me for photos to help promote the growing efforts to reintroduce wolves in the lower 48. Wolves were a different matter, I had seen a few in Glacier on the Canadian border and twice in the high country along the continual divide between Idaho and Montana, but the chance to photograph them was slim. Bears were difficult, the population was low and still recovering from the elimination of the famous roadside beggar bears so I spent as much time as I could in Alaska photographing inland Grizzles. ![]() Since I live in the Yellowstone eco-system many of these subjects could be found nearby. With all of this in mind, I found no lack of serious work to be done. By the late 1960's the grizzly was severely in danger of extinction in the lower 48, the wolf was all but extinct south of Canada, bald and golden eagle were rarely seen, and Trumpeter Swan populations in the Yellowstone eco-system were in trouble. ![]() My early years as a wildlife photographer were driven by a desire to see the end of the rapid loss of wildlife, especially the loss of the large predators that had been happening since the colonization of North America. ![]()
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