‘Famous’ Wolf Is Killed Outside Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park’s best-known wolf, beloved by many tourists and valued by scientists who tracked its movements, was shot and killed on Thursday outside the park’s boundaries, Wyoming wildlife officials reported.
The wolf, known as 832F to researchers, was the alpha female of the park’s highly visible Lamar Canyon pack and had become so well known that some wildlife watchers referred to her as a “rock star.” The animal had been a tourist favorite for most of the past six years.
The wolf was fitted with a $4,000 collar with GPS tracking technology, which is being returned, said Daniel Stahler, a project director for Yellowstone’s wolf program. Based on data from the wolf’s collar, researchers knew that her pack rarely ventured outside the park, and then only for brief periods, Dr. Stahler said.
This year’s hunting season in the northern Rockies has been especially controversial because of the high numbers of popular wolves and wolves fitted with research collars that have been killed just outside Yellowstone in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/science/earth/famous-wolf-is-killed-outside-yellowstone.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm sure there are many wolf-lovers who are saddened at this news.
When the wolves were first introduced, I "adopted" one. She too was killed. 
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Because I'm about to get profane
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKMOTHERFUCKINGPIECEOFSHITHUMANFUCKINGASSHOLES.
FUCK
Why were these beautiful creatures taken off the endangered species list in the 1st place.
This country has gave the green light to hunters, they can now kill anything in sight.
First, I am glad that this news has come to DU. It's important that the general public be apprised of what is happening in the northern Rockies and the upper Great Lakes regarding wolves and predators in general. This is just the archery and gun huntin' season... trapping has just begun. If you think the gun killing part is gruesome, check out what's going on the trapping scene. For one, a number of dogs have been maimed by traps illegally set too close to areas used by the general public already. Some states are also considering the use of dogs to hunt wolves, this is foolish as the dogs are more likely to get killed than not.
The wolf in the article is actually the seventh or ninth wolf that inhabits YNP to be killed in this year's hunt. A whole pack being studied was taken last time there was a hunt. What these brave hunters have been doing is sitting on the park border with calls that mimic wolves or other animals in distress and the wolves go to check it out, they are curious animals and if it might be a wolf, they are darn sure to go see what's up as they have strong family ties.
Now wolf advocates argued for buffer zones around the national parks to avoid this but the F$G patsies were too beholden to the ranching and hunting interests and declined to write such an option into the hunting rules, and they have allowed trapping this year too. Wyoming is the worst as there is a "shoot on sight" year round policy for about 70- or 80% of the state and around the park it's call "trophy hunting" where there is a long but specific season. One of the main arguments for these hunts was to let the wolf haters blow off some steam by letting them kill some... wrong. It only rewards them. ID and WY want to reduce the wolf populations down to about 100 per state, which would be massive killing and much of the damage has already been done. Wyoming is allowed to count the park wolves as part of the overall population in the state... so they want all their wolves to stay in the parks.
There are two lawsuits filed at present against the state of Wyoming but Idaho is about the same in it's level of hatred toward wolves and Montana isn't much better. I'm not so sure about the particulars on the hunts in the Great Lakes states but I do know that suddenly authorities are concerned about hikers, their dogs and others getting shot, pierced by arrows or caught in traps after they have allowed the hunt to proceed, and they're arguing about dogs involved in hunting.
I urge everyone who cares about this to educate yourself and start screaming. This is a keystone species and they are vital to a healthy ecosystem and biosphere, if we wipe them out again, we have only ourselves to blame when the fecal matter hits the fan.
The human species is looking particularly ugly lately in these parts.
If you really want to get the lowdown on a lot of this, a good source is:
http://www.thewildlifenews.com/
which has a searchable history and news updates offered by participating bloggers. I highly recommend checking in to that site from time to time or often if you like since it has a great reputation as a news source on wildlife and issues surrounding them. If you participate, there are moderators since the topics can be controversial and conversations can get a little dicey at times... cussing isn't acceptable. But do check it out, there's a lot to learn and a lot of the info and leads can be found there.
And I laud the sheep rancher, above for the input about guard dogs, thank you for posting that! There are a number of techniques and tools available to keep wolves and other predators away from your livestock, guard dogs is but one of those.
The reason that there are so many elk and deer is because the F$G depts. "manage" for over abundance so the hunters have a reason to hunt so the depts. can make money and one reason they kill the natural predators of the "game" animals.
Folks need to pay attention, this is the new range war of the 21st century.
On edit... posting hunter's names isn't a good idea, it's happened before and it became a big fight about legality and distracted from the main argument about hunting wolves v letting them be... many death threats were issued. Redneck jihadis if you will. It's not a good thing to initiate, if you lived in the region, you'd know why. Now if a person posts gory stuff on a personal website themselves, then they are fair game.
"Many ranchers and hunters say the wolf hunts are a reasonable way to reduce attacks on livestock and protect big game populations"
That doesn't make any sense , that's what wolves do , they hunt they eat.
Or do they want people to go out and hand feed them....
this story would weigh in occasionally with those few of us who routinely take on DU's NRA-squad, the so-called "pro gun progressives." They truly make this site suck.
Folks, this is gun culture. It's not hunting for food or sports shooting: the same right-wing culture that says shooting a wolf for sport is good fun is that same culture that insists we can do nothing about the human victims of the far-too easy availability of handguns and assault rifles on our city streets. It's all of a piece.
Thanks for your patience; sorry for the rant. 
Back to the OP: it is awful. Wolves shouldn't be off the endangered species list.
The last time I checked, humans don't eat wolves.
The killer of the wolf is unlikely to make use of all of the wolf. And I highly doubt that the killer needed the wolf's pelt to keep warm this winter.
Obviously, the killer is incapable of "thinking like a mountain" (thanks to Aldo Leopold's book, A Sand County Almanac, for the concept).
I find this kind of slaughter to be sickening, disgusting, and heart wrenching. 
Real hunters only take a creature's life to provide food. These days, most of us don't need to do that. And, if it is done, ALL parts of the creature need to be put to good use.
I think the killer of this wolf is such a low life that they would suck ditch water. No words can convey the depth of my disgust for such a creep. 
are an inspiration, providing an example of the way we need to go. Kudos to you, Tumbulu. 
We need to find ways to work with Nature, not against the Earth. Like the Sioux, we need to learn to love and respect ALL of our relations, not just the human ones.
Murderers of wolves...be gone!
I can only hope that Odin's wolves, Geri and Freki, haunt these peoples' dreams and afterlife.
May this wonderful wolf find her way across BriFrost to join our waiting family in the Wild Hunt.
Perhaps one day the Wild Hunt's prey will be these 'people' that insist that our brethren be hunted.
