Wolf Pack Kills 19 Elk in Rare 'Surplus Killing'

About 19 elk were killed at a go by wolves on the McNeel Elk Feedground near Bondurant, Wyoming.

It was an unusual killing in northwestern Wyoming, when a gray wolf pack suddenly destroyed 19 elk at night, according to nationalgeographic.

"Normally one or two elk a night here and there is no big deal, but 19 in one night is fairly rare," Wyoming Game and Fish Department supervisor John Lund said.

The theory is that Rim Pack of wolves did it. Most of the elk killed were calves, along with a couple of adult cows. The ghastly killings happened near Bondurant, southeast of Jackson.

"This kind of event is very rare," says Mike Jimenez, the northern Rockies wolf coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who is based in Montana. "Occasionally you see them kill five or six animals, but 19 is very unusual."

"Unlike humans, wolves do not kill for sport," writes the Idaho-based advocacy group Living With Wolves. Instead, the animals are often chased off their kills, either by other predators or by people, who often don't even realize they are approaching them.

Usually, the mass killings take place in late winter, probably an effort by the wolves to store some food for later use. Predators often return to the spot in order to keep browsing on the food---usually for weeks.

The pack might end up killing more than it intended. While it returns to polish it off, it gets eaten by scavengers if they leave the elk on the spot.

The killings tend to pare down the preyed herds, as the predators choose sick, old or very young animals.

This time, the destruction of the elk happened at a "feedground," in Wyoming, where wildlife managers gave hay to elk in the winter, so that they could compensate for the habitat loss. There are 22 feedgrounds managed by officials.

Gray wolves lived in the American West for almost 10,000 years, even though they were almost wiped out through hunting and habitat loss in the past few centuries. Of late, they have been re-emerging. Their reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park has helped.

"Wolves are doing well in Wyoming," Jimenez says. "Although surplus kills might not help some people's feelings of wolves, they are quite rare."