Most Famous Wolf in Yellowstone National Park Killed by Hunters
The "most famous wolf in the world" was killed outside Yellowstone National Park recently, leading to calls for new restrictions to be put in place for hunting on the outskirts of the protected park area.
A wolf, collared with the tag "832F" by researchers, was famous to visitors of the park and known affectionately as '06, after the year she was born. However, the famous wolf was killed last Thursday outside the protective area of the park after straying into Wyoming.
Kim Bean, vice president of Wolves of the Rockies, has told ABC News, "She was without a doubt the most famous wolf in the world, hands down. I watched her since her birth, basically. She was an amazing wolf to watch. She was definitely the most researched in the park. ... She's gone."
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The wolf was part of the famous Lamar Canyon pack, and was one of the most spoken about "attractions" at the national park.
Wolves were listed as an endangered species in 1973, but were reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains in the 1990s, according to ABC.
The renowned wolf was a gray wolf, which was removed from the federal endangered list in May 2011, and lost its protective status in Wyoming on Oct. 1, 2012. The wolf would ordinarily gain protection on the Yellowstone National Park, but in this instance wandered off into the surrounding area where hunters are at the moment permitted to hunt the animal.
Hunting season has already opened in Wyoming and Idaho, and wolf trapping season will commence in Montana on Dec. 15.
Meanwhile, Bonnie Rice, a senior representative for the Sierra Club's Greater Yellowstone Campaign, has told ABC News, "[The wolves] don't recognize these arbitrary political boundaries that we humans implement so there are certain packs that mainly stay in the park, while others come out of the park. The minute they step over that park boundary, they're fair game."
Rice has said that 88 wolves are known to live in the park, but already wight have been killed in the past few weeks.
