Glimpses of an Extraordinary Old Wolf

Trail camera photo of wolf 32 in 2019.

The former breeding male of the Teanaway Pack, wolf 32, passed away last month at an estimated 12 years old after leading an extraordinary life. He is eulogized in a video by Wolf Specialist Ben Maletzke. Wolf 32 has also been an important part of my life for the better part of a decade, since I began studying wild wolves as a teenager.

The Teanaway Pack was confirmed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2011. At the time, they were just the fourth wolf pack to reestablish in Washington since wolves were extirpated in the 1920s, and the first to recolonize the central Cascade Mountains.

I began tracking the Teanaway Pack in 2013. The first time I came across their tracks, one set was distinctly bigger than the others. Soon, photos from my trail camera allowed me to put a wolfy face to the paw prints. I was 15 years old at the time, and I gave him the nickname “Bigfoot,” though I would later learn that the WDFW assigned him the ID of 32M when they placed a tracking collar on him.

DNA analysis revealed that 32 was born to the Lookout Pack, which was confirmed in 2008 as the very first pack to recolonize Washington. In fact, he was likely part of the first litter of wolf pups to be born in the state in nearly a century. As a grown wolf, he and a female would venture south to form the Teanaway Pack.

I continued studying the Teanaway Pack over the years. I am always happy to find any wolf tracks, but finding 32’s massive, unique prints – with one toe that slightly splayed out from one of his front paws – was particularly special. My mom called them “plates,” and they were nearly as big. 

Wolf 32's tracks in spring mud. 

I never saw 32, and I heard the pack’s distant howls just once. However, I have no doubt that he knew when I had trekked through his territory. Without fail, he would spot my cameras. He would often smell the ground, scan the nearby trees, find the camera and give it a glare before moving on.

Cameras and tracking gave me just a glimpse into the lives of 32 and his family. From what I could tell, he was a devoted father and a benevolent leader.

The current breeding female, 72F, almost exclusively led the pack’s excursions, with 32 following behind her. He carried snacks and “toys” for miles to deliver to the pups and their mother. Between 2014 and 2019, he fathered at least 18 pups, 14 of which survived through December of the year they were born. That’s a pretty good record for a pack of wolves making their living hunting large ungulates while navigating roads and other natural and man-made dangers. Since the pack was discovered in 2011, they were involved in only a handful of confirmed depredations despite sharing the landscape with livestock.

Wolf 32 with one of his pups.

In October of 2014, 32’s mate, 38F, was illegally shot and killed. 32 continued to raise the pups with the one remaining adult in the pack. Three of those pups survived at least a full year, and WDFW placed GPS collars on two of them. Both young wolves, a male and a female, later embarked on epic dispersals.

When my cameras first photographed 32, he was already at least six years old. The average lifespan of a wild wolf is just 4 to 5 years. He remained a robust-looking wolf, but his age began to show over the years. Moving with his pack, he kept up their swift trot, but when traveling alone, he walked at a slow pace. His gentle, bear-like face became more grizzled. In 2017, he sported a limp while escorting his four pups past my camera. We can only guess how many injuries he sustained over his lifetime and how much pain he may have lived with in his later years. Life is incredibly tough for a wild wolf.

A mysterious black wolf appeared in the Teanaway territory last year. This was a surprise given that all of the Teanaway wolves were gray and the pack is very isolated from other wolf populations. 32 continued to travel with his family until around February of this year. Soon after, the black male wolf began traveling with the pack, and it seemed that 32 had been displaced.

It’s heartbreaking to imagine that 32 was alone for the last few months of his life. It is also extremely impressive that, at his age, he survived as a lone wolf until July when WDFW found his body. He apparently died of natural causes.

Wolf 32, or “Bigfoot,” was a remarkable wolf and a quiet neighbor. He was a true Washingtonian, from his first howls in the Methow Valley twelve years ago to his last in Kittitas County. With less than 200 wolves in all of Washington, this individual made an incredible contribution to wolf recovery, and his legacy will undoubtedly influence wolf recolonization throughout the Cascades for decades to come.

More personally, I am thankful that I was able to know him in some small way. I first crossed paths with him at 15 and now, as a 21-year-old pursuing a wildlife biology degree, I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from him and his pack. Years of observation allowed me to discover my passion for tracking and to understand how wolves move across the land. 

I will miss knowing that he's out there, and seeing his enormous, unforgettable tracks in the dust and snow year after year. Though I never saw him with my own eyes, the old wolf left his mark on me, and the hills he roamed for a decade are a little less wild without him.  

                                            Wolf 72F followed by 32M and their grown pup.