American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West

by Nate Blakeslee

Even more promising, from Smith’s perspective, was a new study by the young biologist Arthur Middleton, who set out to measure elk calf survival rates in the region east of the park. Wolf critics, especially the Wyoming Farm Bureau, were acutely interested in Middleton’s study, correctly anticipating that he would report the numbers to be at almost historic lows. But they were somewhat less enthusiastic about the findings from the second phase of Middleton’s project—his assessment of what was causing the decline. After months of observing elk interact with predators, he concluded that grizzlies, not wolves, had taken the majority of the calves, and that most elk in the region rarely encountered a wolf at all. He also concluded that stress caused by drought, not wolves, was the main driver of low pregnancy rates among cows, which further depressed herd numbers.