YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Twenty years after their ancestors were released here in one of the most controversial wildlife projects of the century, the howls of wolves punctuated the cold winter air Monday to the delight of dozens of wolf watchers.
“This is a great day,” said Char Thompson of Eugene, Oregon, as she stood with her spotting scope on a snowy hill near Junction Butte to watch the nearby wolves. “To have interaction and so close …”
Members of the Junction Butte pack seemed to be fleeing from the Prospect Peak wolves gathering on the opposite side of the Lamar River. As a black and gray wolf loped south through chest-deep snow, two others sat atop the butte’s ridge as if they had been posted as lookouts to ensure the Prospect Peak wolves weren’t in pursuit.