Last of Denali East Fork Pack "Vanished"

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Sambhur
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Last of Denali East Fork Pack "Vanished"

Post by Sambhur » Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:56 pm

Previous news posted by Koa: http://www.wolfquest.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=79722

Found two articles from a couple of days ago saying that the remaining female and her pups are no where to be seen.

Storied Alaska wolf pack beloved for decades has vanished, thanks to hunting
...
Now the researchers must record one final detail in the wolves’ long history: They may all be dead.

The last radio-collared male was found shot dead near a hunting camp in May. Now, park officials can’t find the last three pack members: a mother wolf without a collar and her two pups. It’s impossible to know for sure what happened to them, officials said, but it’s unlikely that the mother and her pups will survive without the support and protection of a pack. The family’s den is empty and overgrown with weeds. Porcupines have taken it over since June 28, when the group was last seen.
...
Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mor ... o-hunting/

The death of the world's most famous wolf pack is a troubling sign of our fragile ecosystem
The wolf pack that taught scientists how wolf packs work may be dead, scientists worry.

Last they knew, the East Fork pack in Alaska’s Denali National Park was down to a male, a female, and two pups. But as we first saw reported by The Guardian, a park ecologist told the media that the male was found dead and there’s no sign of the rest of the pack at their den.
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Read more here: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/ecolo ... ?r=US&IR=T

Even though it's not confirmed that they're dead, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of confidence in the chance that they're still alive. The first article talks a lot about hunting as a human impact, for those interested.
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Re: Last of Denali East Fork Pack "Vanished"

Post by Koa » Wed Aug 10, 2016 6:09 pm

If porcupines have already taken over the den since June 28th and the mother and her pups haven't been seen anywhere else, they're probably dead. Packs come and go, but I guess that is harder to swallow for some when its a pack that has been around for decades.

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Re: Last of Denali East Fork Pack "Vanished"

Post by valkea » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:48 pm

Yeah... unfortunately it sounds like they are most likely dead, especially since it didn't sound like they had much of a chance anyway in the previous article posted. Definitely not easy news to take in considering how long the pack has been around and under study, but these things happen I suppose. Even without human interference, it's not like the pack would have lasted forever and they've all got to end at some point. They had a good run and from the sounds of it, they allowed us to learn a lot about wolves.
má shínim seal uaire faoi chrann a dhéanamh só
o cad é sin don te sin nach mbaineann sin dó?

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