Moose cross river in Michigan’s remote Isle Royale
A moose and her calf swim to Glenns Island at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan on Sunday, August 18.
National Park Service officials have killed a wolf on Isle Royale that was showing “escalating boldness around visitors”At least two wolves were seen repeatedly frequenting campgrounds and developed areas of the park, and dragging off food storage bags and backpacks on multiple occasions.
In what’s believed to be a first, a wolf at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park was killed by National Park Service officials after it repeatedly was found taking human food from campsites and other developed areas.
Park officials said they became concerned about the activities of “at least two wolves” throughout June and July, as the wolves were seen obtaining human food at campgrounds on multiple occasions.
“The wolves were repeatedly sighted in campgrounds and developed areas, exhibiting signs of habituation and reliance on human food sources,” park officials said in a release, adding that the wolves “were seen dragging away food storage bags and backpacks at numerous campsites.”
Park officials attempted to dissuade the wolves from such activities and implemented changes in waste management and food storage practices. Despite the efforts, however, “these wolves continued to display escalating boldness around visitors, campsites and staff housing areas,” park service officials said.
The decision to kill one of the wolves was made in consultation with federal, state and tribal officials, the park service said.
“Our priority remains the safety of park visitors and staff, and the protection of wildlife in their natural state, including our objective to maintain a wild wolf population,” Isle Royale Superintendent Denice Swanke said in a statement.
“While lethal removal is deeply unfortunate, it became necessary due to a growing public safety risk. All who appreciate and enjoy Isle Royale National Park need to understand the importance of adherence and vigilance to food storage regulations and our collective role in minimizing negative human-wildlife interactions.”
Park personnel will continue to track wolf-human interactions and remove additional wolves only if necessary, park officials said.
Isle Royale, on a 45-mile-long by 9-mile-wide island in western Lake Superior, is the least-visited national park in the lower 48 U.S. states, accessible only by boat or seaplane.
Wolves came to Isle Royale about six decades ago by crossing a frozen Lake Superior in winter. The island’s wolf population once reached 50 wolves, and averaged 25 wolves over decades, before a population crash in the 2010s, as the wolves experienced physical ailments and reduced ability to breed because of severe inbreeding. Changing weather patterns, leading to fewer and smaller ice-overs of Lake Superior, have meant fewer ice bridges between the island and mainland to potentially replenish the wolf population.
With the disrupted predatory-prey balance between wolves and moose, the moose population soared, threatening the island’s ecology with their voracious appetites for vegetation. The National Park Service in 2018 and 2019 initiated a “genetic rescue” of the Isle Royale wolves, bringing in 19 gray wolves from genetically diverse packs in Minnesota, Ontario and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Researchers at Michigan Technological University, in their wolf survey of January 2024, reported a stable wolf population on Isle Royale of 30 wolves.
Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.