Number 9 is one of the first wolves to be reintroduced to Yellowstone. She is the famous mate of equally famous Number 10, the first wolf to be shot illegally ... She was attempting to raise the litter of 8 pups to which she gave birth shortly after the shooting by herself, just outside the park in Montana. This is a formidable task, but she was succeeding until a team of wildlife experts successfully trapped and transported mom and all 8 pups back to Yellowstone when the pups were several weeks old. They weren't going to take a chance on Yellowstone's first naturally ocurring wolf litter in 60 years!

She mated again and spent several years with Number 8 who was a great step-dad to the fatherless pups, even serving as bachelor guardian to them when a falling tree crashed into the enclosure, allowing the pups, but not the mother, to get out... It was a wolf love story :-) From the moment 9 became free once more, she and 8 were inseparable, spending several years together until he died of natural causes, together producing several litters of their own.

The blood in Number 9's veins is the blood of the natural alpha. She survived three mates and spent time as a lone wolf twice. Many of her pups have gone on to become alphas in their own off-shoot packs. Over 70% of the wolves in Yellowstone are her descendants! Currently her daughter, Number 18, the only surviving pup of the famous first litter, is now the alpha female of the pack in which the aging Number 9 remains. 18 is graying herself now as she moves into middle-age...

In late September, the radio collar that Number 9 has worn for 6 years went dead. Many in the park feared that the park's matriarch was dead. Much to everyone's surprise and joy, she was later spotted on several occasions alive and well! This gutsy gal has not only outlived her mates, but her radio collar as well! The park biologists have decided not to stress 9 by trying to re-collar her. When she goes, it is likely the park will just claim her courageous body as it has sheltered and embodied her beautiful spirit.

May that spirit howl forever in the forests and canyons of Yellowstone!

~ Valerie