Officials are preparing to relocate six to eight mainland wolves to Isle Royale National Park, a first step toward rebuilding a depleted population of the predators that help keep the Lake Superior island’s ecology in balance.
Superintendent Phyllis Green says federal, state and tribal specialists plan to trap the gray wolves in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation in Minnesota over the next six weeks.
The animals will be given a health exam, fitted with tracking collars and flown to the park.
Wolves have wandered Isle Royale since the late 1940s, helping keep the wilderness archipelago’s moose population under control. But their numbers have recently plummeted: only two remain.
Officials plan to take 20 to 30 wolves to the park in the next three years.
