The general hunting season for wolves began on Monday, but some hunters won't find themselves alone, they'll be shadowed by the Yellowstone Wolf Patrol.

The stated purpose of the Yellowstone Wolf Patrol is to 'document and disrupt' wolf hunting in the Absaroka/Beartooth wilderness area.

Michigan native and group spokesman Rod Coronado, walking through the wilderness on the trail of wolves and wolf hunters, said he and his group are concerned that hunters have taken several key members of wolf packs in Wolf Management Units 313 and 316, and are asking Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks to prohibit the hunts in those areas.

"Both of those WMU's have seen 12 members of the Yellowstone wolf packs killed in the past two years," Coronado said. "Many of these animals were biologically significant, or are subjects of ongoing research projects.Two were alpha males and females. If there's one place where there shouldn't be a wolf hunt, this is it."

Coronado claims his fellow patrol members simply are i the area to gather intelligence and information on the hunters in the area.

"We're just in the area where these hunts are taking place," Coronado said. "Most importantly, there's a quota of three wolves in each of these WMU's, while in the rest of the state, there is no limit. You can kill up to five wolves a day. So, we're here on the ground, and if hunters kill any of these wolves, we want to be here to document it, share it with the world and hopefully, all the tourists that come to Yellowstone to see the wildlife will pressure and lobby their politicians to change this policy."

Despite the headlines put forward by their leadership, Coronado says he has no intention of actually intervening in the hunt itself.

"We have no intention of interfering with anybody," he said. "We've had several interactions with elk hunters and it's all been positive, after all, they're here doing their thing and we're here doing our thing. However, we have received death threats. In fact, before we even came here we began receiving death threats, but we feel it's important for people to see what's happening on their own public lands.We're not trying to call anybody out except Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. We're just here to document and monitor the hunt."

The Yellowstone Wolf Patrol claims to support the growing economy of wolf tourism.

Yellowstone Wolf Patrol Spokesman Rod Coronado

 

 

 

More From KMMS-KPRK 1450 AM