Rick McIntyre - The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstones Underdog

Praise for The Rise of Wolf 8

[McIntyre] spins the best stories about wolves that anyone will ever tell, ever.

DOUGLAS W. SMITH, senior wildlife biologist and project leader for the Yellowstone Gray Wolf Restoration Project

Rick McIntyres book, The Rise of Wolf 8, has no match in literature. He presents the personal lives of wild wolves in a riveting narrative without equal for its detail and insight. This work took decades of devotion and consumed most of his life. We are so fortunate that we can, through this book, share the ride.

ROLF PETERSON, Michigan Technological University, author of The Wolves of Isle Royale: A Broken Balance

Rick McIntyre knows more about Yellowstones wolves than anyone living or dead. This book is a must-read and a treasure for anyone who loves the places where wolves howl.

THOMAS D. MANGELSEN, nature photographer and conservationist

To follow the ever-changing destinies of the Yellowstone wolves is to witness a real-life drama, complete with acts of bravery, tragedy, sacrifice, and heroism.

JIM AND JAMIE DUTCHER, founders of Living with Wolves

The stories of the different pack members are reminiscent of Ernest Thompson Setons animal characters, but these wolves were and are from real life, and what they reveal will become a classic study in animal behavior.

BERND HEINRICH, professor emeritus of biology at the University of Vermont and author of Mind of the Raven

Rick McIntyre is a fabulous researcher. He dedicated his life to documenting the histories of generations of wolves in Yellowstone. I envy the hours he has spent in the field talking to people about wolves and tracking the wolves movements in the most beautiful country in the world.

SCOTT FRAZIER, director of Project Indigenous, Crow/Santee

Yellowstones resident wolf guru Rick McIntyre has been many things to many people: an expert tracker for the parks biologists, an indefatigable roadside interpreter for visitors, and an invaluable consultant to countless chronicles of the parks wolvesincluding my own. But he is first and foremost a storyteller whose encyclopedic knowledge of Yellowstones wolf reintroduction projectnow in its 25th yearis unparalleled.

NATE BLAKESLEE, author of American Wolf

This book clearly demonstrates that these apex predators are an essential ingredient for maintaining the integrity of the diverse ecosystems in which they live. The Rise of Wolf 8 is a must-readone to which I will return many timesfor anyone interested in wolves and the natural world. Wolves (and humans) are lucky to have Rick McIntyre.

MARC BEKOFF, PhD, University of Colorado (Boulder), author of Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence and Canine Confidential: Why Dogs Do What They Do.

Rick McIntyre knows and understands the wolves in much the same way that a traditional Native would. He knows their birthdates and birthplaces, their family and their family history, their personalities, preferences, strengths and weaknesses, their character or lack thereof. In other words, he knows them as individualsand not just as subjects for scientific study. He KNOWS them.

JOHN POTTER, wildlife artist, Anishinabe

This books contribution to wolf biology is immense, for scientists as well as for wolf lovers.

LUIGI BOITANI, honorary professor, Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Rome

No one I know of has watched wild wolves longer or more closely than Rick McIntyre.

ED BANGS, former US Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator for the Northern Rockies

RICK MCINTYRE

Foreword by ROBERT REDFORD

Copyright 2019 by Rick McIntyre

Foreword 2019 by Robert Redford

19 20 21 22 23 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.

Greystone Books Ltd.

greystonebooks.com

Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

ISBN 978-1-77164-521-8 (cloth)

ISBN 978-1-77164-522-5 (epub)

Editing by Jane Billinghurst

Copyediting by Heather Wood

Map of Northern Yellowstone National Park by Kira Cassidy

Jacket and text design by Nayeli Jimenez

Jacket photograph of a gray wolf by Jim Cumming

Greystone Books gratefully acknowledges the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples on whose land our office is located.

This book was written after the author finished working for the National Park Service. Nothing in the writing is intended or should be interpreted as expressing or representing the official policy or positions of the US government or any government departments or agencies.

Greystone Books thanks the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, and the Government of Canada for our publishing activities.

There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties.... Animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery. Happiness is never better exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies... when playing together, like our own children.

CHARLES DARWIN, THE DESCENT OF MAN (1871)

[Your studies of] chimpanzees made us see them as individuals and have empathy for them.

STEPHEN COLBERT TO JANE GOODALL (2014)

CONTENTS

by Robert Redford

by Douglas W. Smith

PRINCIPAL WOLVES

THESE FAMILY TREES cover the numbered wolves in the packs that feature most prominently in this book: Crystal Creek, Rose Creek, and Druid Peak. Numbers in triangles indicate male wolves and numbers in circles indicate female wolves.

Crystal Creek Pack

The alpha pair, alpha male 4 and alpha female 5, arrived in Yellowstone in January 1994, along with their four male pups. The family was from Alberta.

Rose Creek Pack

A mother and daughter, 9 and 7, arrived in Yellowstone in January 1995, and were introduced to lone male wolf 10. The three wolves were all from Alberta. 9 and 10 formed a pair bond, and 7 dispersed to become the alpha female of the first new pack to be formed in Yellowstone: the Leopold pack. Wolf 2 from the Crystal Creek pack joined her to become the Leopold packs first alpha male.