Wolf packs: Resilient families under threat

Wolf packs are like a family — a family that may be surprisingly similar to yours.

Every member of the pack pulls their weight and does their chores. The parents and older offspring hunt prey, patrol the territory and combat neighboring packs, while the younger siblings stay by the den protecting the home and keeping a watchful eye on the pups.

Even pups do their part, playing, learning and forming tight social bonds that will last a lifetime.

Many wolf packs roam America’s wilderness, but these three offer a compelling look into the challenges these creatures face as they struggle to survive amid a multitude of threats.

The Wapiti Lake Pack

The Wapiti Lake Pack began in 2012 when a male wolf known as 755M returned to Yellowstone National Park after years of wandering in the Northern Rockies. He quickly found a female, 899F, and they soon sought territory to call their own near the border of Yellowstone.

But in 2014, 899F was found shot, killed by hunters after she unknowingly crossed the invisible boundaries demarcating the national park’s protections.

Today 755M is an old wolf, but his pack, numbering 25 wolves, including 11 pups, is the largest pack in Yellowstone. Researchers observing them have also witnessed shifting, shared leadership among multiple males and females, low interpack conflict and an incredibly high survival rate for new Wapiti Lake pups.

The pack is thriving — but their safety and their future is only ensured as long as the pack stays within the park.

The moment they cross that imagined line, often lured out by recorded howls or bait, hunters are free to kill these supposedly protected creatures. In 2022, 20 protected Yellowstone wolves were killed, including nearly every member of the neighboring Phantom Lake Pack.

While the Wapiti Lake Pack has managed to avoid many casualties, we must remain vigilant to ensure this storied pack keeps roaming central Yellowstone for many years to come.

The Kendrick Peak Pack

The Kendrick Peak Pack is a small pack of Mexican gray wolves located in central Arizona.

Once hunted to near extinction, as of 2024 there were fewer than 300 of these rare desert predators left in the wild.

In June 2024, the founders of the pack, a pair of Mexican gray wolves, later named Hope and Mystery, were seen on national forest land near Flagstaff. This pair had journeyed north, across miles of scorching desert, dense forest and inhospitable roads to reach new habitat and opportunities.

While many were charmed by the pair’s story, state agencies have traditionally sent any wolves found north of I-40 promptly back south.

However, we believe that these endangered wolves should be allowed to expand further north. This expansion would provide the species with additional habitat and land, both of which are essential for building larger, more stable populations and guaranteeing the necessary genetic diversity needed to recover the species.

Tragically, Hope was later found shot and killed outside of Flagstaff.

Despite this loss, it seems Mystery and several other Mexican gray wolves of the Kendrick Peak Pack may be reclaiming central Arizona for the first time in decades, hopefully ensuring a better future for their pack, their offspring and their species.

The Wedge Pack

The inspiring tale of Washington’s Wedge Pack is one of resilience and adaptability.

In 2012, the Fish and Wildlife Service killed seven of this pack’s wolves. This left just two surviving members, but over the next eight years, this pair would reestablish the pack.

Yet in 2020, they were blamed for local livestock predations, and again officials wiped out the Wedge Pack.

Or so they thought … a handful of wolves who survived the cull yet again reformed the pack.

However, only two years later, in February 2022, six wolves were found dead in Wedge territory, illegally poisoned and left to die.12

Still, the Wedge Pack has miraculously managed to survive and regroup.

Despite countless troubles, the wolves of northeast Washington’s Wedge Pack have managed to stick together, surviving, recovering and keeping hold of their territory each and every time.

Gray wolves and their packs offer us glimpses into the more tender and affectionate moments in the animal world. They are tireless and devoted in their defense of the pack, its members and its territory, making sure they protect each other from threats internal or not.

It’s no surprise that we choose their near cousins to be our kind’s closest companions and trusted members of our packs.

Together we can help these majestic, and often misunderstood, creatures recover.