A lot of cows die every year in Montana, most often in a slaughterhouse on their way to a hamburger bun. Others succumb to weather, disease and calving problems. Then there are predators – the lions and coyotes and bears so often scorned as the scourge of the range. The federal Animal Damage Control agency […]
Scott Mcmillion
Biologists to Yellowstone: Feed the grizzlies
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – Feeding the grizzly bears here may not be such a bad idea; in fact, it may be the only way to ensure their survival into the next century, according to a new book, The Grizzly Bears of Yellowstone: Their Ecology in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, 1959-1992. A trio of biologists sees […]
Hobbled federal wolf program attracts friends and money
With a little help from their friends, another batch of Canadian wolves will be released in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho this winter, despite congressional budget action designed to halt the project in its tracks. Environmental groups have pledged $40,000 so far, enough money to find and identify about 30 appropriate wolves in British […]
Jealousy, passion, rage: It all takes place in Yellowstone National Park
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. – Marsha Karle was right. Hang around long enough, Yellowstone National Park’s official spokeswoman warned me once, and you’ll get chased by an elk. Last week, it happened. Leaving a mind-numbing press conference in the Mammoth Hotel inside Yellowstone National Park, I stepped outside to see the sun low in the […]
In surprising ways, wolves will restore natural balance
When wolves arrived in Yellowstone last month, it was as though a boulder were tossed into a lake: the ripples began to spread, and eventually they will touch everything. As trucks carrying the predators entered the park, coyotes nearby began to howl; now they yip and sing almost every hour near the wolf pens. “I […]
