wolfkill

East Pack kills alpha male of Chippewa Harbor Pack

return to... wolf-moose home

Isle Royale, 1/31/06, 4:55pm - The air was still. The lightly overcast sky foretold of a fresh blanket of snow coming to cover the landscape.

Chippewa Harbor Pack (CHP) had killed a calf in the late afternoon of the previous day. Now they rested. Three wolves occupied the east end of Chickenbone Lake - one sprawled out on the ice and two pups play-wrestled with great enthusiasm (Fig. 1). The alpha male and another subordinate chewed bones and moose hide at the site where the pack had killed the calf, a half mile to the north. The alpha female and two other subordinate wolf were bedded in the forest between the kill site and Chickenbone Lake .

This was the third moose CHP had killed in the past 8 days. Even though moose were at a 50 year low, bellies were full and life probably seemed all right. Except that CHP had killed and was now resting in risky country. This area is less than 1/2 mile from territory frequently patrolled by East Pack (EP). Moreover, this was the second consecutive kill CHP had made at the outskirts of its territory. A few days prior they had killed and rested in country occasionally patrolled by their neighbors to the southwest - Middle Pack. CHP must have been feeling confident to be killing and resting in such risky country - or perhaps they were desperate. The difference is difficult to tell.

While CHP had been resting, EP was on the move. EP had not made a kill in 8 days (1/24/06), and had spent 4 days resting at the site of their last kill, which was just north of Daisy Farm. (When the prospects of killing another moose are poor, a good energy conserving strategy for wolves may be to sit tight near their most recent kill.) Yesterday (1/30/06), EP left the Daisy Farm kill site. For an entire day EP wandered and rested while searching for a moose they might be able to kill. With eight hungry mouths to feed and very few moose, this is an especially difficult year for EP. Not for several generations had the EP seen so few moose in their territory. In a normal year there might be 40 or 60 moose per wolf in EP territory. This winter there were only about 16.

EP traveled north to the Minong Ridge. By 9:30 AM this morning (1/31) they had made Robinson Bay. After sleeping away most of the midday, they continued southwest. By 17:10 (1/31), EP had made McCargo Cove. All eight wolves of EP were present. They traveled deliberately and mostly in single file. With no apparent hesitation, EP cut south and uphill into the forest at a creek that drained into the south side of McCargoe Cove.

They crested a hill and crossed an open swamp - single file all the way. Their travel had all the appearances of hunting moose. Their travel appeared purposive - they moved through more difficult and hilly terrain covered by deeper snow and denser vegetation than they would otherwise. Were they hunting moose? Or did they somehow detect that MP was only 600 meters away?

CHP had no clue EP was so close. To CHP all seemed well.

As EP crossed the swamp their pace quickened. Pushing further south EP passed through another thick strip of forest separating two open swamps. After punching through the forest and onto the second swamp EP was less than 400 meters from the two CHP wolves feeding at the carcass of the moose they had killed.

How and when did EP know that CHP was just ahead? EP probably smelled CHP; the wind was from the proper direction (east southeast), though very light. Perhaps it was the ravens; there were about 20 ravens at the carcass, more than is usual. EP certainly must have heard the ravens at some point.

After crossing this second swamp there was no doubt EP knew their neighbors were just ahead and intended to charge them. What a bold move - in all likelihood EP had no idea what they would find ahead - a couple of pups or all eight wolves of CHP.

And still, CHP had no clue of the terror that was about to descend upon them.

On the south side of the swamp EP rallied, tails wagged, and voices howled (see Figs. 2 and 3). Despite the howling CHP still seemed unaware. Then EP ran to the southeast, swung around on the back side of the kill site, and attacked, upwind, from the southeast. EP completely ambushed the two CHP wolves at the site of the moose carcass. The chase lasted seconds and covered no more than 30 meters. Under a thick clump of trees the lead EP wolf tackled the alpha wolf of CHP. Immediately, all of EP surrounded and mauled the CHP victim. The jaws and teeth of eight wolves, each capable of biting with 1,500 pounds of pressure per square inch (enough to fracture a wolf’s skull), tore away at the victim. In less than three minutes EP left only a lifeless carcass and blood in the snow.

Meanwhile, a half-mile away, the CHP pups on Chickebone Lake continued play-wrestling and the third continued sleeping. After roughly ten minutes, a CHP wolf ran out of the forest and onto Chickenbone Lake, tackled the sleeping wolf, and aggressively wrestled it for almost a minute. How does a wolf communicate to another the terror that has just taken place? It took several more minutes for all 7 wolves of CHP to emerge onto Chickenbone Lake. And when they all arrived to the lake, they merely stayed there, disconcerted, but showing no sign of retreating from the east end of Chickenbone Lake. Maybe CHP was confident. Maybe they were confused – the alpha female did not see any part of the attack. Maybe CHP was desperate to keep the territory that had been theirs, especially in a year with so few moose.

After spending another 15 minutes on the west end of Chickenbone Lake, the CHP wolves finally got up and began running seven-abreast down Chickenbone Lake. They ran about 1/2 mile and stopped. Some laid down others looked back.

During this entire time EP ran, full of excitement and jubilation, between the site of the dead CHP wolf and calf. EP spent the next 24 hours at this site. CHP, defeated and in disarray, retreated that night to a much safer portion of their territory just north of Lake Richie, where they spent the next two days, mostly just resting.

Being killed by a wolf is a common cause of death among wolves; especially in places where humans are an unimportant cause of death. In a typical year on Isle Royale, one to three wolves are killed each year by other wolves. A typical alpha wolf may kill 2 to 4 wolves in his or her life time.

Contrary to common myth, wolves do not kill others of their kind without reason. Wolves kill other wolves so they can have more food for themselves and their offspring. It is a matter of survival. The two most common causes of death for wolves (when humans are not killing them) are starvation and being killed by other wolves. Moreover, most wolves do not live longer than about four years, which is only about one-third their possible lifespan.

Unanswered questions I had considered in the past revisited my mind once again. Are wolves murderers? Did I just witness a wolf murder? What is murder? Is it wrong for a wolf to cut short the life of another wolf in exchange for a one-year extension on its own life? Would a two-year extension change the matter? Is it wrong for a wolf to promote the survival of its offspring, even if that promotion involves killing another of its kind? It is wrong for humans under similar conditions to do the same? Why, or why not?

Contemplating such questions cannot so easily be brushed away as mere anthropomorphizing. Humans are different from wolves, but certainly not incomparable. But what is the proper view? Are wolves excused from murder because they are driven by instinct (what ever that is)? Instinct drives many human behaviors, some immoral and others not. Murder is wrong for humans, among other reasons, because of our human aspiration to live the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule can be lived only to the extent that one can empathize. Wolves, being social creatures, would seem capable of significant empathy. To what extent should the Golden Rule be applied to wolves or other animals capable of higher cognition? My ability (or is it my willingness) to empathize is limited. Do the limits of my empathy excuse me from living out the Golden Rule under certain circumstances? Contemplating the possible morality of animals may teach us more about animals and about ourselves.

For the month that followed this event, East Pack gradually took control of more and more Chippewa Harbor Pack territory. These may be the last days for Chippewa Harbor Pack.

--POSTSCRIPT--

Below are images of the alpha male's carcass as we found it a few days after its death.