Gray wolves are thriving at Isle Royale National Park five years after authorities began a last-ditch attempt to prevent the species from dying out on the Lake Superior island chain.
This photo taken Jan. 24, 2023, shows a pack of wolves after they killed a moose at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. Gray wolves are thriving at Isle Royale National Park five years after authorities began a last-ditch attempt to prevent the species from dying out on the Lake Superior island chain, scientists said Wednesday, June 14, 2023. This photo taken Jan. 24, 2023, shows a pack of wolves after they killed a moose at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park.
The trends appear to justify federal officials’ 2018 decision to airlift mainland wolves to Isle Royale, the researchers said, arguing that the predators’ return is helping rebalance an ecosystem knocked off-kilter as their number dropped to just two. But the early results haven’t settled a debate over whether people should rescue struggling species at Isle Royale or other designated wilderness areas, where federal law calls for letting nature take its course.
Moose provided an ample food supply for the wolves, which in turn helped keep moose numbers in check. Both populations rose and fell over the years, influenced by disease, weather, parasites and other factors. But inbreeding finally took its toll on the wolves, whose numbers plummeted between 2011 and 2018.
Park officials and Michigan Tech scientists contend the absence of a top-of-the-food-chain predator of moose and beaver would have been ruinous for the island’s forest. Even now, its balsam firs continue to deteriorate from moose browsing and an attack of tree-killing spruce budworm, the report said.
The moose population’s 28% drop from 2022 is one of the biggest one-year collapses ever seen at the park, it said. While wolf predation is partly responsible, necropsies indicate the biggest cause was starvation from overpopulation.
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