Wolves

Thirty years after wolves were brought back from near extinction in the U.S. Rocky Mountains, the state of Idaho is back in the wolf-killing business.

Wolves represent perhaps nature’s greatest comeback. Exterminated from the West before the middle of the 20th century, they now roam nine Western states. But some scientists say wolves might be in trouble again and that key states may be inflating the number of wolves through faulty science.

Idaho rancher Jay Smith has a wolf problem. Over the last 20 years, Smith said wolves have killed more than 200 of his cattle and caused major financial harm to his family’s business.

Heath and Clark take listeners to rural Idaho to hear from ranchers and farmers who say wolves are literally taking a bite out of their bottom lines. And they talk to a woman who trying to save livestock without killing wolves.

Sitting in an old-growth spruce fir forest, Doug Smith says he can see first-hand the impact of reintroducing wolves on the larger ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park.

Heath and Clark get lost backpacking in Yellowstone National Park on the trail of wolves with Doug Smith, one of the top wolf experts in the world. Along the way, Smith shows listeners how the return of wolves has changed the iconic park’s landscape.

Long before the American government removed them both from their ancestral homelands, wolves and Native Americans coexisted side-by-side for centuries. Those connections run deep for Shannon Wheeler, the chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee.

“I’m wondering in that moment, ‘Am I awakening the ghost or is the ghost awakening me?’”

A new podcast series tracks the reintroduction of wolves to the American West 30 years later.

The helicopter was flying low above a remote snow-covered mountain ridge outside Hinton, Alberta, Canada, when pilot Clay Wilson jumped the wolves and gave chase. Carter Niemeyer picked the tranquilizer gun off his lap and sighted through the opening where the helicopter's passenger side door had been removed especially for the mission.