ISLE ROYALE, MI (AP)-- Researchers say at least three rare wolves drowned in an abandoned mine shaft on Isle Royale, explaining a worrying drop in their population on the island.
Michigan Technological University said Thursday that its experts wondered why their annual winter count found only nine wolves and only one confirmed female. John Vucetich and wildlife ecologist Rolf Peterson said it could foretell the wolves' extinction in the remote national park where they live in balance with the moose population.
In late May, a National Park Service biologist reported animal carcasses floating in water at the bottom of a deep, 19thcentury mineshaft. An examination finds at least three wolves drowned, one a young female that would have helped maintain the wolf population.
