Instead, wolves began appearing regularly on the far bank of the Lamar River, playing with pups, lazing in the sun, and of course, killing. The relatively unpopulated road to the park's northeast gate became much busier, and Park Service interpreter Rick McIntyre found himself managing crowds of wolf-watchers. Wildlife Veterinarian Mark Johnson finishes medical examination of an adult female red fox captured on the periphery of coyote territory. They kept their distance, and they managed themselves. McIntyre dispenses information about sightings, wolf behavior, and good viewing behavior.
People often assemble on the knolls before sunrise, and linger into the darkness.
The public fascination with Yellowstone wolves today would have surprised the earliest tourists in the parks a century ago. Wolves and coyotes were a bother then. When sport hunters killed an elk in the park they often laced the carcass with strychnine, a fatal meal for the park's wild scavengers. Early in the 20th century, the government put a bounty on wolves, but according to park archivist Lee Whittlesey, by then the damage was already done. A century later, the movement to restore wolves to Yellowstone began gathering steam, fostered by federal wildlife biologists and private conservation groups.