HAMILTON, Mont. (AP) — Mountain lions have killed two radio-collared wolves in the Bitterroot Valley since January, a state wolf specialist in Montana says, and two others were killed last year.
“I haven't heard of it happening anywhere else,'' Liz Bradley of Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks told the Ravalli Republic (http://bit.ly/LUyQq8). “It's pretty interesting that the Bitterroot has had so many.''
She found a dead wolf last week with skull puncture wounds that are a trademark of a mountain lion.
“It's hard to say what happened,'' Bradley said. “There was no elk or deer carcass nearby that they may have been competing over.''
She said the lion ate part of the wolf and covered the rest with debris.
In January, she found another dead wolf west of Lolo with the same wounds. In that case, a deer carcass nearby indicated that the two predators apparently fought.
“That one was probably a conflict,'' she said. “They compete for the same resource. When there is overlap in areas where you have lots of prey, conflicts occur.''
She said last year she found two other wolves with puncture wounds in their skulls. Now, only four packs in the Bitterroot Valley have a wolf with a radio collar. At the end of last year, Bradley had collars in seven packs in the Bitterroot. She estimates that there are 14 packs in the area.
“It's too bad because we don't have those now,'' she said. “Ideally, we would have at least half of the packs collared in the Bitterroot.''
She said the largest pack has nine wolves, while most have four to seven, and that several just have a male and female. The number of wolves in the area is between 60 and 70.
“That's a little bit lower than what we had in 2011,'' she said. “We had about 80 last year. We had some mortality.''
Predator Xtreme
Seems to me the collar allows a big cat a leverage/grappling point against the wolf.
ReplyDeleteJust saying..
- Rumson
Yeah, I bet they didn't think of that, did they?
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. Up here wherst i live, we are always told, if we see a cougar, " make yourself big, hands over head, don't turn your back on it, and bark like a dog, for cougars mortal enemy are wolves"
ReplyDeleteIt seems things are maybe changing eh?
Maybe they have taking a liking to dog. I know the dog I ate in Korea was pretty tasty.
ReplyDeleteI'm staying (RV) in Hamilton as I type this. It hasn't been only cougar killing wolves here locally. The" Three S's" are a way of life with ranchers in the Bitterroot. Those Fish and Game fools just don't get it, and they never will as long as they have their noses buried in the Sierra Cub's ass.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about this story is that once again it proves that pound for pound then cat is much more deadly than the dog.
ReplyDeleteI ain't sure it's cougars. Grizzlies also bite the skull and pierce it with their fangs.
ReplyDeleteIn the cases where grizzlies attack people they invariably scalp their victim because a human head is too big for their mouth. A wolf skull wouldn't be.
They will be protected until enough libtards and their kin are ate by wolves. Dumbasses.
ReplyDeleteMiss Violet