ENTERPRISE, Ore. - Biologists captured three wolves last weekend and attached collars equipped with tracking devices to help study the movements of the endangered predators. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said all three wolves from the Imnaha Pack were in good condition. Wildlife biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wallowa Whitman National Forest assisted ODFW with the capture and collaring of the three Imnaha pack wolves.

The wolves were found by locating radio collars already on the pack’s alpha female and another adult in the pack. On Friday, the crews collared a yearling male wolf with a GPS unit. The device will automatically record its location and send the information to ODFW. Crews also captured a yearling female and fitted her with a radio collar. That device will require biologists to actively search for the wolf with a tracking device. On Saturday, the biologists put a GPS on a 2-year-old male wolf. During the operation, biologists spotted the alpha male. He was originally GPS collared last February but his collar stopped working in May 2010, leading to concern that he had died or been shot.

“We did attempt to capture the alpha male but we were unable to get him to an appropriate location where we could safely dart him,” said Russ Morgan, who runs ODFW's wolf program.

The wolves were darted from the air by Morgan in a helicopter operated by Quicksilver Air. Difficult terrain and below zero temperatures made capture conditions tough. ODFW also tried to locate the Wenaha pack during the capture/collar effort but did not find the pack. ODFW and its partners will try to collar more members of the Imnaha and Wenaha packs this winter. Wolves tend to spend time in open country rather than the forest during the winter. That exposure is key to capturing the wolves from the air.

DodgeRam is one of those people that always incites my fury.

Three for the price of what? An average family's food budget for a year?

Me:

I wonder how much money the government and citizens spent on wolf eradication not so long ago, and how many other animals were sacrificed as bycatch in the name of human progress and domination of the land. Now we're trying to do the right thing by restoring wolves to their historical range. Is any money spent on scientific pursuits and the management of natural ecosystems a waste in your mind?


Perhaps if biologists didn't have to constantly worry about the wolves being illegally killed they wouldn't find it necessary to track their movements so closely. We have a lot of hunters and ranchers complaining about the wolves and also complaining about all the money being spent on them. If those same folks weren't such a threat to the wolves, there wouldn't be as much money going into restoration of this species! Not to mention time wasted on everyone's part into investigating wolf killings.

DR:

Lets see an hour in a helicopter is $10,000 and a snowmobile is $20 humm what one is more cost effective, HUMMMM the presidents 747?

Me:

Really? ODFW pays $10,000 for an hour in a helicopter?


How would you propose going about getting close enough to a wild wolf while on snowmobile to dart it? A wolf would easily outmaneuver a snowmobile. Helicopter darting is fast and effective and they can get to the animals before they run them to death.

DR:

Let me guess you and the fish and feathers folks in salem that bow down to the tree hugging environmentalists don't know how to hunt then.


As for the $10,000 that's a guess on my part if you look at air farce none it's abought I think they said $50,000 an hour.

Me:

Are you skilled at tracking individual animals on a snowmobile, dart gun ready?


Any organization that manages contentious issues must make decisions that reflect what the people want. Unfortunately I think we sometimes get too wrapped up in having the voice of the people and the average joe who knows nothing about wildlife management is voting on stuff that should really be left up to the biologists to decide.The public will turn against government that isn't making favorable decisions, and that goes both ways. I would say that the state pays equal, if not more attention to, the ranchers and game hunters who can't deal with a native predator putting a little more pressure on their business or hobby.

 DR:

Poor little ratboy that likes to waste tax money on helicopters.

(Apparently he got bored of attempting to say anything intelligent so reverted to that.)

Me:

you're talking to a woman here, bub. Muskrats are more closely related to voles than rats FYI.

New commenter:

Let's collar the killers instead.

DR:

Lets collar the tree hugging environmentalists and neuter them to keep them from reproducing.

Me:

In my book environmentalist = anyone that cares about the world around them.


Apparently you'd be happier living in a little abiotic bubble. Don't need the mountains, the rivers, the oceans, the wild animals, or anything else that doesn't directly make your world work..do you? Oh maybe the snow and ice though, so you can include that in your bio in some apparent attempt to seem hardcore.

DR:

Apparently you would be happier to have your kid eaten by a cougar because of the fact that all the dear are dead from wolves and add to that we can't hunt with dogs to help control the cougar population.

Me:

Oh yeah, the risk of a fatal cougar attack is SO great. Last time I checked, there's never been a fatal attack in Oregon. Black bears are a slightly bigger threat. If I had a child, I would be much more worried about car accidents, illness, broken bones, and all the effects of the maladies of our society on his/her upbringing. In fact that's one of the reasons I don't want kids! I can't imagine bringing another human life into this world we live in.


And I am not against using hounds to hunt cougars.

DR:

Poor little ratboy that lives in the big protected city of gayville.