Sunday, October 11, 2009

In memory of 302M

It been a sad few days. As many of you know I love wolves. I especially love going to Yellowstone National Park to go wolf watching. The State of Montana had a wolf hunt and said their hunt was to be in areas where there had been livestock losses. Well the held the hunt near Yellowstone where there are no livestock. The result there was not hunting but a slaughter in my opinion. As a result the entire Cottonwood pack was wiped out. The hunt has been stopped now but its a little too late.






















A favorite wolf of mine has always been 302M the alpha wolf of the Blacktail pack. That is him in the picture above which I took last June. Among the wolves of Yellowstone he is a celebrity, often called the Casanova of Yellowstone. He has been known to visit the ladies in many of the other packs. Sometimes he got in trouble for that but he always seemed to rebound. Among wolf watchers he was a favorite. I always liked to hear about his story and what he has been up to. I wrote about him here back at my old blog Meanderings.












The body of 302M was found dead in Lamar valley from natural causes. The animal had no wounds so they really do not know the cause of death. He was 9.5 years old which is great for a wolf. Their average life is 4 years. I was glad to hear he died a natural death and was able to live his life on his own terms. This picture above is one Dave took last June. He is on the left and the alpha female is on the right. He was one fantastic wolf. I don't think there will be another like him. He has left a hole in my heart, it just won't be the same without him.

4 comments:

  1. I'm sorry Kate. The loss of an animal we loved is a very hard loss. Much love, O

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  2. This is what I love most about blogland - sharing stories such as this. What a moving post that highlights and teaches a Brit something about an animal we only see in wildlife parks. Thanks for introducing him to us.

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  3. I remember you posting about him. Same as you, I'm glad that he died of old age. Seems that he had a good, exciting life! Beautiful wolf!

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  4. I'm so sorry to hear about your wild friend, Kate, but so amazing that he lived so long! It's a testament to his strength!! I had a mentor for many years (he's since passed) who had a great love of wolves. I still have a memento he gave me on my desk that says "live for the pack." He always said that's how wolves were - they lived to support and take care of one another and that's what he expected from the people who worked from him. It's a sentiment I miss sometimes in the business world. Thanks for sharing your story.

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