Return of the Pack: Wolves' Restoration on Isle Royale!

Capture teams from the U.S. National Park Service track down and relocate wolves to Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior under an ambitious initiative to restore balance to a wilderness ecosystem.

[@chuckgollmar4882]

I have hiked the length of the island twice over the years. On our first trip in 1992, we were lucky enough to have heard wolves in the night. The Ranger we told about hearing them said it was adults calling in pups from a hunt. On our second trip in 2007, the wolves were gone, We did get to sit in on a lecture by Dr Peterson when we camped at Daisy Farm. I can't tell you how excited I am about this news.

[@ridley_boi8272]

That's gotta be surreal, experiencing almost first hand the original glory of the wolves only to feel that absence years later on your return. I'd kill to be able to witness animals in their natural habitat.

[@MKrištínWildness]

i m glad for this Initiative. People violated ecosystem balance and therefore restoring ecelogical balance is very needed. Wolves are important part of nature.. Thank you for your very important work. Like 112.

[@tommurphree5630]

Sadly , too little , too late. The only way to restore the ecological balance , is to have a word wide human birth control program , because , as you know , human overpopulation is the cause of wildlife habitat loss . Unfortunately , humans are not going to initiate worldwide birth control . If we brought down human overpopulation by two thirds , this earth would be an ecological paradise .

[@MKrištínWildness]

@@tommurphree5630 Yes, you are right friend. Greetings.

[@rogerryder4132]

Great mini information video. Looking forward to my 3rd trip this year. I enjoyed first 2 trips with a kayak. This time a 14' canoe in more protected waters will stretch my shoreline and islands exploration. Glad the efforts to restore wolf population appears successful. It's so unique and natural to witness importance for nature to contain all the pieces of Mother Nature's Royale plan.... 👍

[@Grassyknolldallas]

I’ve hit two deer and I’m 39. We need more wolves in lower 48. Gators and Black Bears have had a huge comeback in many states. Many people don’t know that the parts of Great Plains were the result of the millions of Buffalo that trampled the ground not allowing trees and shrubs to grow

[@UnwisePoppy]

We need more hunters

[@Grassyknolldallas]

@@UnwisePoppy yes we do hunters of these people☝️

[@MaidensWorldOfWax]

"Parts of Great Plains were the result of the millions of Buffalo that trampled the ground not allowing trees and shrubs to grow" Who the hell told you that?? lol Maybe try and read a book instead of listening to folk lore.

[@karennord1707]

This brought tears to my eyes. Thank God for those that are saving our animals that are endangered.

[@oakroyal]

When the narrator says: 14:56 “The truth is: we don’t know how the moose got to Isle Royale”, I couldn’t help but think of Jeff Goldblum’s line from Jurassic Park: “Life, uh, finds a way.”

[@tarmotyyri6733]

If only all people, or at least those with power & means to act, would understand that all the ecosystems on our planet are like puzzles, if even one piece is missing, the entire puzzle is ruined.

[@seeDiersoilcrossrowds]

I HOPE THEY GOT THEIR PARVO SHOTS.

[@SgtZak_]

How’d that work out for the Dino’s? Mother Earth controls all. We are simply arrogant to believe we do.

[@tarmotyyri6733]

@@SgtZak_ We may not control everything, but we as a species sure do our best to make the earth less inhabitable each day.

[@SgtZak_]

That’s Malthusian.....

[@tarmotyyri6733]

@@SgtZak_ Malthusianism primarily deals with population growth & the growth of the food supply. It says very little or nothing about pollution, climate change, hunting for sport, wars, nuclear weapons, etc..

[@JadeVuong-vo4uj]

im interested to see the effects on the ecosystem. seeing the success at yosemite, hopefully this can restore everything back to harmony. i cannot wait. i want to know now. is wolves native to isle Royale? i wished there was something like this for endangered or nearly extinct wolves in the southern border in mexico.

[@kamonichan1111]

I wonder, were any attempts to keep existing packs intact? Or would that have simply been too complicated?

[@richardbailey3065]

The Arctic Wolf in the picture is NOT what got reintroduced on Isle Royal.

[@donnahilton471]

I hope they like each other!

[@johnreynolds2063]

Thank you for the inportant work to save the wolfs.

[@paulkiarie6538]

a sincere moment of silence to the science overs who have not yet found this channel and condolences to those who will never find it

[@evadd2]

Where mankind has interfered with the natural systems, mankind should correct the system to return it to a natural system. And then stay out of the way. It worked in Yellowstone.

[@rajeshcp1488]

Is it really possible to bring in balalnce in an island like this, because if the natural bridge connecting the mainland and the island is nomore, what happens to the population of growing Wolfe? What if it was only a winter hunting location for the Wolfe? That way the balalce was always intact.

[@supremereader7614]

Great documentary, but I worry that GPS collar is too big and could really inhibit feeding acutally.

[@crybabyalien9989]

Nope! the collars don't really affect the wolves much and don't get in the way. A lot of wolves are collared and go onto live full lives. The collars are to help track and monitor each wolf.

[@supremereader7614]

@@crybabyalien9989 how do you know? Those a huge collars. Why do you try wearing one and eating with one for 48 hours?

[@crybabyalien9989]

@@supremereader7614 I took a class on Wolf ecology and held a collar. They’re not as heavy as they look, and wolves are very strong. Rather than the collars, I’m more worried about the social structure since most packs are family units. If that breaks down then there is only a slim chance of them surviving as hunting is really dangerous for a pack, let alone a lone wolf. I really hope they form packs and make a home on the island. I understand you’re worried, and I get it. I just wanted you to be a little less worried. A lot of healthy packs have collared members.

[@vachalex]

Worry bout what? Worry bout doing nothing to help wtf 😒

[@evangelorodrigues5005]

Great video

[@inakimilton5460]

The information given is not accurate. When talking about the second wolf that was trapped to then release on the new location it is stated that in that part of Ontario karibou were wipped out by wolves. This is not true since it has been extensively demonstrated that wolf numbers are adapted to prey availability. Most likely if karibous are no longer present in that area is because of trophy hunting and/or poor management of nature resources by humans

[@northwoodsliving101]

Well hard to take this as based in knowledge, as the author has trouble with basic spelling.

[@PLRAHAPL]

Sleeps on your lap + snores = forest puppy 👌

[@theobserver3753]

How about their offsprings?

[@williamgoodman2037]

I just time to this video ..love it👍👍👍👍

[@jamesswanson3419]

So, Moose arrived on Isle Royale in the early 1900s. We don't seem to know how they got there. I've found references to them crossing an ice bridge, swimming or being introduced by humans. In any case, they didn't naturally live there before 1900. Wolves came across by ice bridge in the 1940s. Neither species is native to the island. The island is obviously too small to support a healthy wolf population. Only periodic renewal of the gene pool from the mainland allowed them to last the 70+ years they have been there recently. Even before climate change, they weren't able to survive here if they ever even came before the 1940s, so it is a little daring to blame climate change for their inability to survive here now. Perhaps what we are witnessing is a normal cycle - Moose and wolves arrive, persist for a few generations and then die out, only to be renewed after being absent from the island for awhile. Presenting them as native to the island when the moose have only been here for 120 years and the wolves for 70+ is a little misleading. Do they really even belong here?

[@tommurphree5630]

It looks like they both got there originally by an ice bridge . I don't recall anybody on the video saying climate change caused the severe depletion of the wolves . They have said in more than one of these videos that parvo was the cause of the depletion of all but two wolves left . You said they were not native to the Island , or one or both aren't . Can't remember. I consider both to be native if they got there by ice bridge . As for your question , should they be there , I think it's ok.

[@notovercome]

Are they taking into account wolves mate for life when they take them away from their former territory?

[@straubdavid9]

Only the Alfa pair mate. Taking these individual wolves and relocating them will allow them to form their own packs.

[@dannydanko4627]

I live in the UP and like wolves but if they have to keep reintroducing them to that island, how natural is it? Wolves have huge territories and thats probably why so many end up back in Canada, Minnesota or Michigan. I feel like that island could only sustain a pack or two at most.

[@tazmaniusserbantinio4482]

As stated in the film, wolves accessed the island via icebridges during winter. These annual excursions brought fresh DNA countering the "island effect" which refers to a lack of new DNA resulting in inbreeding and the eventual destruction of the wolves. So, yes, wolves are natural to the island. The unatural thing is the climate change that prevented ice bridges to form and new DNA to be introduced into the native wolf population.

[@brodyhess5553]

@@tazmaniusserbantinio4482 the lake has had average ice coverage and a few years that were cold and a record setting year it fully froze the past decade

[@ddpeak1]

I was wondering do the ice bridges not form any more? If they did why do wolves not cross ? Is it there are non on adjacent islands?

[@Amasaman]

Ice bridges still form, and wolves still cross them. In 2019 one of the relocated wolves left Isle Royale. www.nps.gov/isro/learn/news/wolf-departs-isle-royale-on-ice-bridge.htm In 2015 two wolves crossed to Isle Royale and then returned to the mainland. www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2015/03/wolves-wander-grand-portage-indian-reservation-isle-royale-national-park-and-back26379 In 2014 a female wolf left the island only to be found dead on the mainland. www.michiganradio.org/post/isle-royale-wolf-crossed-ice-bridge-was-shot-pellet-gun

[@Amasaman]

@Braeden Simon Ice bridges still form. See my reply to David Dean, with links.

[@ddpeak1]

@@Amasaman thanks

[@reptoJane]

Ice bridges still happen but at a much lower rate... once every 10 years v 8 out of 10 years.

[@tommurphree5630]

The answer to your questions are on the video , or was that on the other videos ? Isle Royal is twenty miles off the coast. Because of climate change there are less opportunities .

[@donnahilton471]

Looks like Romeo.

[@willsc2012]

So just ripping families apart yet again. Smh. If wolves wasn’t in such and such state or county or country. It wasn’t meant to be. The black wolf looked so lost when he was released so sad.

[@HyDrA-cd5ko]

18:05 is the camreas

[@hitentopia5611]

Its nature. Nothing you will do matters to it.

[@ddpeak1]

What is a scat?

[@mcscrooge4542]

Feces. Important indicators of animal's diets for those studying animal health.

[@random24tarot22]

You know how you don't how the moose got isle. Same question you gonna ask the wolf population explodes

[@benboekholt4789]

Godbless these people helping wolfes

[@teyanuputorti7927]

Amen

[@stevehanke1842]

They are not helping the wolves at all. Taking them from their natural areas they grew up in and put them in a very far away strange place and also taking from their family not to be seen ever again is just aweful!

[@junjalapeno7773]

If god really do exist, wouldn’t his role for humans is to take care of nature? We’re the only ones capable of rational thinking anyway. What I don’t get is religion doesn’t seem to teach anything about helping nature at all.. they seemed to be too occupied in human relations which doesn’t really get anywhere to be honest.

[@junjalapeno7773]

And god get the credit ALL THE TIME!!

[@michasosnowski5918]

Just multiply and conquer nature. Not respect it or be steward of it. Lets make more little christians/muslims/jews, and take advantage of nature. That is bible god command.

[@random24tarot22]

Let them be

[@dr.sky.brainstream]

So cute

[@Minong_Manitou_Mishepeshu]

More wolves please!

[@רועילוי-ט6ו]

Bring back bear 🐻 to

[@wayne4768]

leave those animals alone. What hypocrisy

[@florincioara]

💯👍💝

[@hitentopia5611]

Yeah. Aliens do the same with humans too. Great work.

[@eleanorkaterberg4274]

AND PUPS

[@jeromebullard6123]

A very small island for human ecological interactions. Such a fine balance to achieve with such inexperienced human players.

[@tommurphree5630]

People are the enemy of nature ; at least people that progressed out of the stone age and into the world of technological achievement. Fooling around with Isle Royal is not the answer . The answer is a worldwide birth control program for humans . Humans are the cause of wildlife habitat destruction . So they achieve a temporary balance on Isle Royal . Does that resolve the imbalance on earth ?

[@notesofnaramusic]

I love the fact that they are helping them...but putting a collar and tagging them isn't necessary...just let them be. Let them be free....human hands are always meddling and manipulating things....this is what sort caused the problem in the first place....our curious mind is incredible, yet so detrimental...

[@hyenaboy7504]

It's called "research and conservation".

[@cjderfler9706]

I hope they are drawing on Doug Smith of the United States of America Federal Park service of Yellowstone Park because he's the the God father of reintroducing wolves back into the north American territory.

[@eleanorkaterberg4274]

I LOVE WOLFS

[@joecole7122]

Then let's put them in your backyard.

[@goingtoscream9708]

POV: Science class is dumb as hell

[@danielmcguire7752]

Thank god for the return of the wolves to Isle Royal National park

[@garrykrause2375]

AAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@campbub]

I would have gave this Video a like.. it was well done, and informative. Then the old ( climate card ) came... maybe the wolfs died out, simply because the gene 🧬 pool isn’t big enough on a island this size? Interbreeding cause health issues. If they die out again is the cause ( climate change ) ? Again? I mean.. they probably get way to hot, and it harms them 🤦🏻‍♂️ Also.. it’s stated that the wolfs got on the island from a ice bridge, why isn’t it possible the moose did too? I think if they truly wanted to do a fair study, it should have been left be.. but then again, wolfs help bring people 😉 Anyways.. somethings to think about ✌🏼

[@TheWirdbird]

Look at those teeth!!!

[@chaz000006]

So, periodically man has to bring in extra wolves, or they'll keep dying out? Why not make special allowances for occasional hunters and trappers instead?

[@netrasharma8800]

I am not sure if you get it. Do you?

[@donnahilton471]

So we get to trap hunters and trappers? Can't we just shoot them? Or let them freeze on Isle Royale!!!

[@donnahilton471]

It's called diversity. Genetic refreshment.

[@chaz000006]

@@donnahilton471 Did you not watch the vid? Let the wolves die out, since they will keep doing that anyway, and use hunters and trappers to regulate the moose and beaver populations so the animals don't overpopulate and starve when there's no food left.

[@emery7554]

nah cause hunting isnt usually allowed at nature reserves. They want to keep the ecosystem without human interference which is why theyre not sure if bringing wolves periodically is okay. I agree though, hunting would probably help as long as people dont go nuts lol

[@fatsbiggalo9321]

Maybe introduce a new female every year to help keep the population a little stronger less inbreeding just a thought I was lucky to see one on a hike with boy scouts back in 96 on the island

[@HyDrA-cd5ko]

thank me

[@ryanr6656]

will all of you be celebrating still when there are no more moose on the island?

[@hyenaboy7504]

If there no more moose on the island, it will be due to HUMANS.

[@brodyhess5553]

Bring back the caribou and wolverines . Not these two

[@skipperrussell2025]

All of them.

[@brodyhess5553]

@@skipperrussell2025 we have enough moose and wolves on the mainlands around the lake . But if we brought caribou back a few miles south the global warming and denier crowd would have a field day lol

[@Jay112224]

Just casually abducting wolves😂

[@Bledi838]

These park rangers are doing a great mistake interfering in nature’s balance to protect the forest. The wolve is the worse predator of all... very soon there will be a negative effect. They will spread to other areas.

[@vachalex]

They keep the balance. 😒

[@hyenaboy7504]

The rangers are interfering with the balance of nature by... restoring the balance of nature?

[@criskatan]

Sad that they introduced wolves. Totally unnecessary.

[@hyenaboy7504]

Why are sad that they reintroduced a native predator to the area and helped to restore balance to the ecosystem?

[@huntercampbell3743]

Too many wolves

[@purplepotatoes9255]

I'm pretty sure the problem is very specifically lack of wolves

[@nikolinamar]

Did they just stupidly vacinate the healthy wolf? Wtf I cant, abort mission of watching this video

[@hyenaboy7504]

I don't think you understand the whole point if vaccines. Vaccines exist to help prevent you getting disease, not to cure a disease you've already got.

[@thekickingwolf5115]

What is it with you people and your fantasies of wolves??

[@straubdavid9]

I heard this reintroduction was happening, but lost track of the project for a while. So glad to see that it has happened and that there is success of some reproduction🦫🐺 Take care.