Have you heard of Mollie’s Pack? It’s getting a lot of publicity lately and this is a story that has two distinct sides and not much of a gray area. First some information to help you understand this controversial topic.  

Mollie’s Pack are the descendants of a wolf pack that were reintroduced into Yellowstone Park in 1995. It was given the name “Mollie’s Pack” in 2000, which is an important aspect of the story. Naming the pack gave it an identity and a cult following soon after. The pack was named to honor Mollie Beattie, the first woman to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department. She passed away during that original reintroduction.

A really important part of this story is that these wolves have lived in the park for a long time. They have become acclimated or used to seeing people and do not associate humans as being a threat.  

Now comes the rub. This pack has drifted outside of Yellowstone Park and is now in Wyoming. This is another important part of the story because that area of Wyoming is cattle country and there is a legal wolf hunting season in that state.

Now the battle lines have been clearly drawn but without a clear path to resolution.  

It has been reported on several sites and in news reports that a social media influencer has offered a $10,000 reward for the identity of any hunter who harvests one of those wolves. The other side of that is a hunter has allegedly pledged payment to be guided on hunt to harvest wolf number 1090F who is the 12-year-old matriarch of the Yellowstone pack that moved into Wyoming. For now, the battle is on social media and both sides are determined, to say the least.

It’s pretty accurate to call this a conundrum. The temperature of the issue is rising quickly, especially since Wyoming’s wolf hunt started on Sept. 15.  

What side of the fence do I fall on? That’s a great question because I can see both sides of this. I have seen first-hand what the wolves have done to our deer herd in northern Wisconsin. In days gone by, Wisconsin hunters would see hundreds of deer during the deer gun season. Nowadays northern Wisconsin is the least hunted area of the state because of the lack of deer. I also understand that there was a time and place when wolves were here first just like they were in Yellowstone. In other words, I don’t have a solution to any of this.   

Attempts to “push” the pack back into the park have proven to be a tough task. Also, some grazing rights have been suspended in Wyoming as a preemptive strike to avert potential wolf vs. cattle conflicts. I’m not sure what more can be done but to let everything play out naturally. In the end, I hope everything ends peacefully for the pro and anti-wolf groups as well as for the wolves.

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