Brains
A new pack of about twenty to thirty wolves will be reintroduced to Isle Royale National Park, Michigan. According to MPR News, the wolves will be reintroduced to help control the ballooning moose population, which has tripled to around 1,500. On the other hand, the wolf population was almost decimated due to inbreeding and there are only two currently on the island.
The wolves will be reintroduced over the next three to five years and will be genetically diverse from the Great Lakes region. Trappers using leg snares hope to introduce eight to ten this year.  Projections are that the wolf population should stabilize to around 20 to 30 on the island. The pack first came to the island in the early 1900s from an ice bridge that that formed from Ontario.
The project will begin this fall after the tourist season. The start up cost for the reintroduction project is $660,000 and projected to cost $2 million for observational reporting over the next 20 years. The goal will to bring the moose population down from 1,500 to 1,100. Howl-pfully the the wolf population stabilizes and brings a better balance to the ecosystem on Isle Royale!
