A wolf captured last Saturday near Morgan has been safely returned to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.
But its elusive companion — believed to be a female — is welcome to stay in Utah, says Joe Fontaine, assistant recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wolf Recovery Program.
"We will not be bringing any more wolves back" to home ranges in the greater Yellowstone area of Wyoming, Idaho or Montana, he said. "It will be up to Utah officials to make sure they are protected."
For the past two years, state officials have been looking to develop a management plan for wolves, currently protected under the Endangered Species Act. But there was no urgency because wolves were not here yet, and there was the prospect that the wolves would be taken off the list of endangered species, thereby giving the state greater flexibility in dealing with wolves that prey on livestock or become problems.
Now the wolves are here, and without the plan, the state must abide by the tough mandates of the Endangered Species Act, which means wolves cannot be killed, even if they are preying on livestock.
"It prevents us from using any lethal means to control wolves," said Craig McLaughlin, mammals program coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The decision by federal wildlife officials to let wolves do what they do naturally — split off and form their own packs in new ranges — puts the pressure on Utah to develop a state plan rather than be subjected to federal mandates.
"It is our expectation that they will disperse wider and wider, and Utah will see more and more of them," Fontaine said. "If they are not causing problems, we have no intention whatsoever of going down there and bringing them back."
Under management plans in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wolves that kill livestock are destroyed. Utah was hoping to delay its own management plan until wolves had recovered sufficiently in those states to have them removed from the Endangered Species Act. If wolves were not endangered, the state would have greater flexibility, including lethal means, to deal with animals that move into the state.
The status of wolves is expected to be reduced from "endangered" to "threatened" as early as the end of this month, although that delisting may be challenged in court.
McLaughlin said the state will not take any immediate action on a wolf plan, but the process will be accelerated.
"I expect it will be months rather than years, especially with this latest development," he said. "Internally, we are assessing what options we have."
The wolf captured in Utah was a 2-year-old male born in the Lamar Valley area near Yellowstone. It was outfitted with a radio collar, but like about 30 other wolves with tracking devices, the collar had disappeared. The wolf was given a new radio collar and returned to the Grand Teton area.
Based on paw prints in the area, there is a second wolf roaming Utah hills. If it is indeed a female, Utah would have had its first breeding pair.
It is unknown if the wolves are the same ones suspected of killing sheep earlier this summer in Cache Valley.
E-MAIL: spang@desnews.com