Wolf V036: an iconic wolf
Wolf V036 in her old age.
“She was an unknown legend in her time”
-Neil Young
Wolf V036 was an iconic female wolf in our minds. She was first collared in 2014 as a 1-2 year old wolf in the Cranberry Bay Pack. Her collar stopped working shortly thereafter and all contact with her was lost.
In 2018, five years later, we noticed an ear-tagged breeding female in the Shoepack Lake Pack. We tried and tried to get videos/photos of this wolf so we could read the ID on the ear-tag. And finally we got a perfect photo: the ear-tag read “V036”.
Somehow she ended up at the top of the Shoepack Lake Pack and remained at the helm of the Shoepack Lake Pack until late in 2022 when we suspect she died; late 2022 was the last time we saw her on camera.
Photos in 2021 and 2022 show that old age had not entirely escaped V036. Her face looked more weathered and worn with each passing year and her coat whiter.
V036 produced at least 4 litters of pups and likely more. She likely produced other litters but we lost track of V036 from 2015-2018 after her collar dropped off, as programmed, in 2015.
In the end, V036 was truly a legend given how long she was able to live, lead a pack, and raise pups. We estimate she was 10-11 years old when she died—an age few wolves live to see.
