BILLINGS, Mont. — Yellowstone National Park’s lead wolf biologist says the number of wolves in the park has probably decreased since a survey was conducted last winter.
Yellowstone’s 11 packs included 171 wolves according to last winter’s survey. But biologist Doug Smith is predicting the number will be down when a survey is conducted again this winter. He said that this fall, three of the wolf packs have no pups and several others have few in what could be another outbreak of disease.
“There’s been a fair bit of adult mortality as well,” he said. “It’s probably distemper, but the rest of it is wolves killing each other.”
During a distemper outbreak in 1999, 40 percent of the pups survived. In 2005, the pup survival rate dropped to 19 percent. Distemper is likely spread through contact and saliva and is more likely to affect pups because they have underdeveloped immune systems. The Associated Press
