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Get Up and Grow: Grey wolves - back home again in Indiana?By ROBIN DUNGAN
I imagine many of you have heard by now that the wolves have invaded Indiana and are taking over. Let me assure you, we are not under siege. Indiana Department of Natural Resources biologists occasionally get calls from people reporting sightings of mountain lions, bears or wolves here in the state. Usually, it is just a case of mistaken identity, but earlier this summer, a Randolph County resident was right on the money when he called to report a large canine found dead in a soybean field. Indiana DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials retrieved the remains of a young male gray wolf that had left his pack in central Wisconsin. After performing a necropsy, they concluded that the wolf had indeed been shot to death. This wolf was originally captured in Jackson County, Wis., in August of last year. He weighed about 46 pounds and was estimated to have been born in April 2002. He was fitted with a radio collar so biologists in Wisconsin could track his movements. The transmitter failed after Jan. 15 of this year, but at that time, he was still in his home territory. It is not unusual for male wolves to disperse when they are about 1 or 2 years old. They will leave the home pack in search of their own space. They might join a new pack or perhaps find a mate and an empty space where they can start their own territory - not unlike many of us after high school graduation. According to Adrian Wydeven, a mammalian ecologist and wolf specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, "Wolves most commonly disperse in fall and winter, but it can happen any time of the year. The pressure of a new litter about to be born into the wildcat pack in April may have encouraged this wolf to leave." While this is not the first time for a wolf to leave its home pack in search of a new frontier, I don't feel that anyone needs to be concerned. Wolves are not the senseless killing machines that some people make them out to be. There has never been a case of a wild wolf killing a person in North America. The small number of cases involving injuries from wolf bites were cases in which wolves were accustomed to being fed by humans. There are many more cases where people have been hurt or killed by another person's "domestic" dog. Gray wolves, which are also known as timber wolves, were prevalent in our state before human settlement, but no real population studies were performed. The last recorded wolf sighting in Indiana was in 1908. We, like other states in the U.S., have hunted, shot and chased them out of our region. By 1974, the wolf populations were small enough that they were classified as a federally endangered species. The wolf populations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan are doing quite well, and if the populations continue to thrive, we might not have seen the last of them in Indiana. However, some DNR biologists do not think that the return of the wolf is inevitable here. Because of the way our landscape in Indiana has been altered since the wolves were here, it is not likely that they would choose to settle here again. In Minnesota, a pack of six to eight wolves needs a range of 15-150 square miles. In Alaska and Canada, the pack may utilize as much as 1,000 square miles. In addition to habitat deficiencies, the ecological niche that the wolves once filled here has been filled by a rapidly growing population of coyotes. Although I know some of you might disagree with me, I for one would love to see the return of the wolves to their native Indiana. They are a very intelligent, organized and social animal (much like us). Come along with us. There's a wild world waiting right outside, right now. Robin Dungan is naturalist at Minnetrista. She can be reached by phone at (765) 213-3540, ext. 151, by e-mail at RDungan@eciheritage.net or by writing to: Robin Dungan, Oakhurst Gardens, 600 W. Minnetrista Boulevard, Muncie, Ind. 47303. Visit with wolves For those of you who would like to learn more about wolves and see a pack of wolves in action, a Minnetrista motorcoach tour to Wolf Park in Battleground is scheduled for Nov. 2. After watching the wolves, the group will venture on to Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area to view the sandhill crane migration. Call 213-3549 for more information. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |