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Courtesy Rolf Peterson
Isabelle, a lone Isle Royale wolf
Isabelle, a lone wolf who was nearly killed on two occasions last year by a pack, was last seen on the island on Jan. 21. She was found dead on the mainland earlier this month.
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Courtesy Rolf Peterson
Isabelle
Last February, after surviving an attack from the alpha female of the West-end Trio, Isabelle took refuge on an icy ledge. She was found dead this winter on the mainland, after using an ice bridge to leave Isle Royale. The cause of the wolf's death is not yet known.
An Isle Royale wolf has been found dead on the mainland, reports the Associated Press' John Flesher.
The radio-collared wolf – a loner nicknamed Isabelle who was nearly killed by the West-end Trio's alpha female last year – apparently used an ice bridge to leave the island.
The 5-year-old female's body was discovered earlier this month along the shoreline on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota, biologist Rolf Peterson of Michigan Technological University told The Associated Press. She apparently hadn't been shot and the cause of death could not be determined immediately, he said.
Rolf told me this month that he hopes mainland wolves will cross the ice to Isle Royale this winter and reinvigorate the gene pool, but that this scenario – a wolf leaving – was just as likely. He believes two wolves left the island when an ice bridge last formed, in 2008. A wolf hasn't crossed the ice to the island since 1997.
The birth of pups last year boosted the flagging population to 10, but Isabelle's departure dropped the count back into single digits.
+ For some background, read our story from last week: What this winter's intermittent ice bridges mean for the wolves and a changing Isle Royale.
+ Andrew Sorensen's 2008 feature on the 50th anniversary of Isle Royale's wolf-moose study.