Stop Cop City 🐢

Some beautiful footage from the dam of a remote beaver pond in early spring this year. You can hear the sounds of spring all around this pond, which we call “Capsaicin Pond” (story behind that below). But this is more than just pretty footage...the footage highlights an interesting dynamic in the wolf packs in this area...because all the wolves in the video belong to different packs but they all have a history with one another. Notably, this pond is in an area of overlap between the Half-Moon and Lightfoot Pack territories. The first wolf in the video is the new breeding male of the Half-Moon Pack (now dubbed Wolf Y15C after we collared him this spring). He and his mate kicked out Wolf V094, the longstanding breeding male of the Half-Moon Pack, in Fall 2024. And Wolf V094 just so happens to be the 2nd wolf in this video, and Wolf Y15C’s mate happens to be V094’s daughter. Small world! Wolf V094 was a lone wolf at the time this video was taken but he joined the Peatlands Pack later this past summer. But you can tell he is getting to be an old fellow. And then the last wolf on camera is the breeding female of the Lightfoot Pack (Wolf B3S). She recently became the breeding female of the Lightfoot Pack after kicking out her mother in Fall 2024. And as it turns out, her mate is the son of Wolf V094. For a few months last winter, V094 actually traveled around with this female and his son in the Lightfoot territory but then for whatever reason, moved on. Now, as for the name, let’s just say someone on our crew was out doing fieldwork near this pond a few years ago and had a little issue with their bear spray...it was a long walk out for them with some blurry eyes that were feeling the burn...