Mollie's Pack and 1090F don't have a voice. But YOU do!

Wolf  1090F photo above by @sylviabornogovo

How should you say it? We offer talking points to think about and to help you compose your comments in your own words.

Mollie’s Pack represents a unique management case. Why can’t Wyoming recognize that wildlife management is most effective when it is adaptive and responsive to exceptional biological, scientific, and public-interest circumstances?

• This is not simply another wildlife management issue. It presents an extraordinary circumstance involving one of the world’s most scientifically important and publicly recognized wolf packs.
• Primary Request: Close Mollie’s Wolf Hunt Area
  Wyoming Untrapped calls on the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to temporarily close this Wolf Hunt Area for the 2026 season too hunting and trapping if Mollie’s Pack remains in the area. The closure would apply only to one hunt area and one season. It would not end wolf hunting elsewhere in Wyoming. It would give this vulnerable pack time to raise its five pups while the regional wolf population recovers from a serious distemper outbreak. The Commission has approved a combined mortality limit of four wolves for two combined Hunt Areas between September 15 and December 31. The quota does not protect a specific pack. Several Mollie’s Pack members could be killed before that limit is reached.
• The Commission’s Authority The Wyoming Legislature has expressly authorized the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to”fix season and bag limits” and to “open, shorten or close seasons… in any specified locality of Wyoming.” Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 23-1-302(a)(i). The Legislature has also recognized the Commission’s authority to issue orders “closing any area of land” to hunting. Wyo. Stat. Ann. §23-1-303(c). In addition, gray wolf seasons are established annually by Commission regulation pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 23-1-304(a), which directs the Commission to set wolf seasons as necessary to meet Wyoming’s wolf management objectives.ⁱⁱ 2025 Wyoming Statutes Title 23 – Game and Fish, Chapter 1 – Administration Article 3 – General Powers and Duties of the Commission Section 23-1-302 – Powers and Duties https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title–23/chapter–1/article–3/section–23–1–302/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
  – provided by Footloose Montana
• 1. Protect Five Dependent Pups
  Mollie’s Pack includes five young pups that depend on the adults for food, protection, and survival. The loss of even one experienced adult could reduce the pack’s ability to hunt, care for the pups, and remain together. Protecting the pups means protecting the adults raising them.
• 2. Respond to Population Decline and Distemper
  Wyoming wolves are already experiencing a significant biological setback. Canine distemper was detected in 64 percent of the wolves handled by Wyoming biologists in 2025. Pup survival in northwestern Wyoming fell to approximately 37 percent, and the Wolf Trophy Game Management Area population declined below the Department’s objective. Mollie’s Pack has five pups after two years without successfully raising pups through the end of the year. These pups are important to both the pack’s future and the recovery of the regional population. Closing this Hunt Area is a reasonable precaution during this period of decline.
• 3. Protect Yellowstone’s Living Legacy
  Mollie’s Pack is the only Yellowstone wolf pack still connected to the beginning of the 1995 wolf restoration. Originally called the Crystal Creek Pack, it was renamed for Mollie Beattie, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director who helped return wolves to Yellowstone and strongly supported the Endangered Species Act. The pack carries more than 30 years of genetic history, learned behavior, social relationships, and scientific knowledge. It is also known for developing the cooperative skills needed to hunt bison in Yellowstone’s Pelican Valley. This historical, ecological, and social significance cannot be replaced if the pack is lost.
• 4. Recognize the Pack’s Public Importance
  Mollie’s Pack is valued by researchers, wildlife watchers, photographers, local communities, and people around the world.
  The pack has exceptional ecological, scientific, educational, historical, and recreational significance. Wyoming’s wildlife agencies have a responsibility to consider these public values alongside hunting objectives. A temporary closure would show that wildlife management can respond to extraordinary circumstances.
• 5. Prevent Livestock Conflict Before It Happens
  Closing a Hunt Area should be paired with intensified monitoring and proactive nonlethal conflict prevention.
  We ask agencies and livestock producers to use tools such as:
  • Range riders
  • Carcass and attractant removal
  • Fladry and electrified deterrents
  • Strategic livestock movement
  • Temporary changes to grazing near denning areas
  • Rapid financial and technical support for producers
  Preventing conflict protects livestock, reduces pressure for lethal removals, and gives the pack a better chance to raise its pups.
• 6. Improve Monitoring and Transparency
  WGFD and partner agencies should closely monitor the pack, its pups, and any interactions with livestock. The public should receive regular updates about the pack’s general status, confirmed conflicts, nonlethal measures, and management decisions. Sensitive den-location information should remain protected.
• 7. Temporarily suspend trapping and snaring activities that present a foreseeable risk of
  incidental capture of wolves within the immediate area occupied by the pack, particularly
  while pups remain dependent upon adult care.
• Requests to the Shoshone National Forest
  Wyoming Untrapped asks the Forest Service to:
  • Support the temporary closure of this Hunt Area.
  • Coordinate closely with WGFD and the Commission.
  • Work with grazing permittees to prevent livestock conflict
  • Reduce disturbance near the den and rendezvous areas.
  • Consider temporary, site-specific protections while the pups remain dependent.
  • Recognize Mollie’s Pack as a resource of exceptional public and ecological importance.These actions should be temporary, geographically limited, and focused on protecting the pack during this vulnerable period.
• Pursuant to its authority under W.S. 23-1-302(a)(i), the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has the discretion to open, shorten, or close hunting seasons in specified localities. We respectfully request that the Commission exercise that authority by temporarily closing  this Trophy Game Management Area to wolf harvest for the 2026 season if Mollie’s Pack remains in the area. This request recognizes that wildlife management is most effective when it is adaptive and responsive to exceptional biological, scientific, and public-interest circumstances.
• The pack also includes 1090F, the oldest known wolf in Yellowstone National Park. The wolf is a sentient, living being that has navigated one of the most uncertain landscapes for over a decade. Individuals that survive to advanced ages provide rare opportunities to study longevity, leadership, reproductive success, and social stability in wild wolf populations. The loss of such an individual would permanently diminish an irreplaceable scientific resource.
• Although wolf hunting is quite difficult, Yellowstone wolves are accustomed to vehicles and crowds. They’re often naive to the dangers posed by humans, and as a result, they are expecially vulnerable to hunters.
• Mollie’s Pack and this magnificent 1090F are irreplaceable. They deserve your, and our, protection.
• A temporary closure of a single Trophy Game Management Zone prior to September 15, 2026 would have negligible effects on statewide wolf harvest opportunity or population objectives. Conversely, failure to act could result in the irreversible loss of one of the most historically significant and beloved wolf packs associated with Yellowstone’s restoration program.
• When Wyoming’s wolf hunting season opens on September 15, every member of the pack-including the pups-will be legally vulnerable to take. Prior to the opening of the hunting season, wolves also are at risk of incidental capture in legal traps or snares set for other species.
• We further encourage voluntary, temporary removal or relocation of livestock grazing from the immediate denning area while pups are being raised. Proactive conflict prevention reduces the likelihood of livestock depredation, minimizes future management removals, and supports coexistence between livestock operations and wildlife.
• Since 2017, the ProtectTheWolves organization has urged Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho to establish a Sacred Resource Protection Zone surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks recognizing wolves not merely as management units, but as relatives, ecological participants, and beings of profound cultural and spiritual importance. As Roger Dobson, a Cowlitz Tribal member and Director of Tribal Cultural Resources for Protect the Wolves, stated: “Wolves are sacred to our culture and religions as Indigenous peoples.” Indigenous knowledge and cultural relationships with wolves deserve more than acknowledgment. They deserve meaningful consideration in wildlife policy—and they deserve action.