Wolves in Arizona: Cross-Fostering Hoodoo
One of the greatest controversies among sportsmen and conservationists is the role of the wolf in our ecosystems. That controversy may just be heating up in Arizona soon: Today, we’ve learned that the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) wolf biologists have captured, collared, and released three cross-fostered wolf pups as part of their ongoing efforts to boost the health of the Mexican wolf packs in that state. The pups are now traveling with the Hoodoo Pack in the northeastern Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
What is cross-fostering?
Cross-fostering is a new conservation technique in which newborn pups from one pack are transplanted into a new pack in which another wolf has just had a litter. The idea–which so far is working well–is for the pups to be “adopted” by the new bitch. They do this for a couple of different reasons. The first is that the Mexican wolf packs need more genetic diversity; switching pups from one pack to another helps reduce inbreeding.
The second reason wildlife agencies cross-foster wolves is that wolves that have been “fostered” by humans as pups will never develop fear of us, and that means more conflicts with humans once the pups grow to adulthood. The hope is that cross-fostering will keep the pups “wild enough” to cut human beings (and our livestock) a wide berth.
How do they do it?
AZGFD officials safely captured the wolf pups (fp1890, fp1887 and mp1888) with padded foot-hold traps. These traps are designed to safely capture wolves by holding the trapped animal by the foot until it can be chemically immobilized, provided a physical health assessment, collared and released. The IFT uses traps with multiple safety devices to avoid causing injury to animals captured and temporarily held by the traps.
The three cross-fostered wolves were then fitted with satellite tracking collars that emit GPS locations and radio signals that biologists on the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (IFT) use to monitor the wolf population. The data collected can help document reproduction and survival of collared wolves.
All three of the cross-fostered wolf pups were captured, processed and released on-site without any wounds or injuries. AZGFD wolf biologists monitoring the newly collared wolves have noted that each of the collared wolves have rejoined the pack and are doing fine.
So where’s the controversy?
Ask any rancher or big-game hunter in Montana, another state that has been re-introducing wolves over the last decade. “We extirpated them for a reason,” growled one of my elk guides. “That business about wolves just hunting to survive is bull. Wolf packs will tear through a sheep herd like a woodchipper and just leave the corpses everywhere. And forget about finding a big, mature bull elk. Wolves ate ’em.”
Wolves are apex predators, and adding them back into an ecosystem that hasn’t had them for a long time is absolutely going to change everything about how the fauna of that ecosystem interact. Even those conservationists among us (myself included) who feel that our wild spaces are empty without the occasional howl from the Hoodoo Pack must admit that.
Have wolves been reintroduced in your state? Tell us in the comments!
The notion that cross fostering wolf pups from one pack to another pack to prevent inbreeding is ignorant! Inbreeding is prevalent in all packs, herds of all types of animals. You are simply playing with nature and increasing Wolf numbers thru out the united states, which wolves were re-introducing themselves naturally. Here in Montana wolves are devastating our game herds. You are romancing with the wolves and it is sickening.
It’s all fun and games until they eat your beloved Dogs…
And they will, and anything else they can grab in the middle of the night.
I know how I’ll handle them on my place, you might handle them different…Or Not!
Wolves borne in the wild do not fear humans what-so-ever. Rather, they have an innate sense of humans being a danger to the survival of their species, and will avoid or retreat from interactions with humans when it is in the best interest of the wolf. That, to me, is respect. That said, the wolf is always pinging human defenses, and will attack humans when the wolf senses it is in its best interest to do so, whether that interest is defense or a next meal.
Wolfs got to eat. They are no different than humans. Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. They also target the weak, which, are the young, sick and injured and the old.
Leave them alone and question your ignorance instead of blaming the wolves.
Wolves are killing machines. Will kill anything, two four legged.
Does anyone understand the concept of natural protection? Donkeys, Llamas, Great Pyrenees, Komondors and others all offer flock herd protection without killing the wolves. Granted they might still get killed it they try to invade a properly stocked farm or ranch, but they always avoided our area when we had Great Pyrenees, Tibetan Mastiffs with chicken and goats to protect.
Why were wolves hunted almost to extinction in the first place? There must be a reason but nobody ever talks about that! It seems it would take considerable effort to hunt such a intelligent creature to extinction. If they really do kill for sport and not for just survival that would be the reason they have the reputation they do.
Killing Machines! Fishing game pays farmers a lot of money and reimbursement for the dead animals that are left behind ! Cattle just killed for the sake of killing! The walls are hybrids created in Mexico with the help with the turners! They’re not true wolfs!
Noticed that the person in Wyoming was put in italics as if he was a bad person for thinking that or saying that! It’s true our ancestors got rid of those animals for a reason! Not mountain lions not bobcats just the wolves!
Why?
If you can’t figure it out it’s because you don’t wanna see the truth!
guess what is attacking the recently introduced Elk In WI, yep Introduced wolf packs. Out east the wolves and cyotes are are inter breeding giving rise to a new spieces.
The new this century mix in the East also now know as the Eastern Wolf is smarter and has now fear of man. Most of the actual coyotes are now gone in my area along with loose dogs and cats. They weigh around 80 pounds for a male.
“Cross-fostering is a new conservation technique in which newborn pups from one pack are transplanted into a new pack in which another wolf has just had a litter.”
that means they stole pups from their moms.
“AZGFD officials safely captured the wolf pups (fp1890, fp1887 and mp1888) with padded foot-hold traps. These traps are designed to safely capture wolves by holding the trapped animal by the foot until it can be chemically immobilized, provided a physical health assessment, collared and released. The IFT uses traps with multiple safety devices to avoid causing injury to animals captured and temporarily held by the traps.”
the article indicates they caught newborn pups with leg hold traps and then reintroduced them,
just how much TAX PAYER MONEY do you think it cost to trap 1 young wolves that were cross fostered into a pack that had a new litter, if there were 5 pups total and 3 needed to be collared, just how long does it take and how many times does one have to release the 2 unwanted pups, just to capture the 3 they wanted to put a collar on?
even if 1/2 of the crews used were unpaid students and interns, you can bet it cost a pretty penny.
if they wanted to increase the wolf population all they had to do was
#1. capture some wolves
#2 insert them into area of AZ close to border where illegals are crossing
#3 then release 5 wounded illegals into area each and every day.
the wolves will learn that the illegals are a food source and americans do not need to feed the wolves, they will feed thenselves!
Leonard: that’s a good one !
You are on to something there. Proceed
These people who think they know about the ecosystem in an area and seek to change it, should be shot,(excuse my french) Every time they change something, supposedly for the better, it changes that system for the worst. They build dams and the area down stream becomes a desert and the fish and other wildlife suffer. They bring in starlings to eat the Japanese beetle and the starlings don’t eat the beetle, but multiply to become a scourge on the east coast and are working westward. Flathead Lake, Montana they thought it wise to eliminate the shrimp, well before that the salmon would come up the river to spawn and the eagles, (by the thousands), bears, etc. would line the river banks to feed on the salmon. After they changed the ecosystem in the lake, it killed the salmon, etc. and today maybe a few hundred salmon come up the river and you only see a very few eagles and usually no bear. I could go on and on, but to no avail, these people have college degrees and that says they know what they are doing, HA!
P.S. They are coming back now-a-days and tearing out some of these dams.
As someone who believes in wildlife conservation and is a biologists by education, there 3 problems inherent with the current practice of reintroducing wolves into certain areas of our nation.
#1: “Reintroduction” in the majority of the cases is not true introduction, because wolves, albeit it in very small numbers, already exist in those areas in which they are “reintroduced”;
#2: The conditions of the areas of wolf “reintroduction” are not the same as when wolves were abundant in those areas, so there will be problems with the manner in how the “reintroduced” wolves survive and thrive;
#3: The presence of domesticated livestock, which are prey for “reintroduced” wolves, result in the wolves having a food source they expend less energy and time on obtaining will result in even greater numbers of wolves than previously existed before their “extinction.”
Notice that these comments are not based on emotion, politics and opinion, rather it is all scientific and biological facts.
I find some of this irritating. I can understand the wolves per se, but many of these same people won’t let us control wild horses, donkeys and burros who are NOT natural, but compete with the natural animals and are a problem, such as with the Desert Bighorn.
Bighorn first, horses and donkeys aren’t even on the list.