My dad thinks it’s a wolf, but I think it’s more likely to be like a black coyote or something. Looks too small and skinny to be a gray wolf. This was out in Stanley, Idaho.

I was reading a book wherein a wolf pack gets poisoned and starts behaving very aggressively (due to mental degradation) and was wondering how wolves in the real world would actually behave (or if this has ever been studied and anybody could point me to some papers/scientific articles).

The context: in this fictional story (set in a fantasy world), a person is developing a poison and testing it on animals. With all the previous animals, the infected animal turns violent (even if they are usually incredibly peaceful and herbivores) and attacks everything it sees, humans and other animals alike. Relentlessly. Death seems to be the only thing that stops the animal. The impression I took from the descriptions is something like if a rabbit was infected and it saw a tiger or elephant, it would attack and not stop until dead, so that's the level of persistent aggression and mental collapse I'm talking about.

In the story, the person doing this testing then infects a whole wolf pack, which then attack some travelers. However, the wolves are still very pack-centric, attacking as a pack and with their attack having planned and thought-out elements (surround the group of prey, perform some feints to try to break the formation of the group of prey, attack from multiple directions, attacking in consistent waves to give the prey no break).

And, in the context of this fictional story, that strikes me as odd, since this poison seems to deteriorate an animal's mind to the point that they are just AGGRESSIVE and cannot think or reason. All the other examples talk about how the animals zero in on anything alive and just attack and attack and attack.

So, to me, it would make more sense that this infected wolf pack would attack the travelers, but also each other, and it would be an incredibly random and aggressive melee ending with few survivors among the wolves. I know some wolf behaviors are instinctual, but I think most of the hunting techniques we witness and associate with wolves are driven by intelligence just as much as instinct, so removing the intelligence of a wolf would drastically reduce its capacity to work effectively or in a pack.

Ergo, my question about if this has ever been studied. As in, has a pack ever been observed to still work well as a pack when several of its members are suffering from something causing mental degradation?

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I think this one is a decent improvement over my previous wolf drawing. I hope this one doesn't mysteriously disappear.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service issued an order to kill an endangered Mexican gray wolf - really infuriating.

https://www.telebari.it/attualita/264103-aggressioni-a-tre-bimbi-a-noicattaro-arriva-la-conferma-del-dna-e-un-lupo-appenninico-maschio.html?fbclid=IwdGRjcAT-QlxjbGNrBP5CSXBkb2YBZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeUn11IMARwetWpspMPzXMgksz6YkCWpsQL9f2DqqXM60g4-w7RJgTVqtfybc_aem_ruv_e4d9PmT0wC_21qS8OQ

https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2026/08/one-young-wolf-two-close-encounters-and-a-journey-hundreds-of-miles-long.html

The link/story has all the videos and photos, interview and a ton more about lone Oregon wolves that have traveled insane distances.

The description of the video is magnificently heart breaking and inspiring.

I follow this wonderful organization @VoyageursWolfProject

Pack dissolution.

According to Borg et al. (2015), Journal of Animal Ecology;

-Breeder loss preceded 77% of documented pack dissolutions.

-Packs were more likely to dissolve when the female breeder or both breeders were lost.

-Smaller packs were substantially more vulnerable.

-Packs that lost breeders had lower denning and pup recruitment rates.

-Losing both breeders was particularly disruptive.

-The effects were strongest around the breeding season.

A study on wolves hunting moose in Scandinavia examined two packs after each lost one of their breeding wolves. Researchers found that the surviving female switched to roe deer, while the surviving male continued mainly selecting moose.

Age.. Experience.. Body size.. And pack size.. affect hunting success.

Barber-Meyer et al. (2016) compared wolf packs in several ecosystems, including Yellowstone, Denali, Minnesota, and Yukon. They found that packs hunting moose tended to be larger than packs hunting white-tailed deer. Their interpretation was that dangerous prey impose greater risks on wolves and that less-risky prey can act as "buffer prey."

MacNulty et al. (2014) found that wolf group size strongly affected success when hunting bison, one of Yellowstone wolves' most formidable prey. Elk capture success leveled off around 2–6 wolves, whereas bison capture success continued increasing until roughly 9 to 13 wolves.

breeder mortality --> pack disruption/reduction --> fewer experienced/coordinated hunters --> reduced ability to exploit dangerous/large prey --> potentially greater reliance on easier/less risky prey.

Removing a breeder doesn't necessarily mean fewer wolves immediately. Instead, it can disrupt the social organization and hunting expertise of the pack, potentially changing what prey the remaining wolves are capable of exploiting.

Relay these facts to the target on Mollie's Matriarch.

Is it truly worth it to take out an animal that has been the sole function of the pack's cohesion and chemistry? How many pack members will possibly stray and either die or target unnatural prey?

My concern is that the loss of a breeding wolf can have effects far beyond the death of one individual. Breeding wolves often provide important social structure, experience, and leadership within a pack. When one is removed, the pack may become smaller or unstable, potentially leading to fragmentation or dissolution. A smaller or less experienced pack may also have more difficulty hunting large or dangerous prey, which could push surviving wolves toward easier and potentially more vulnerable prey such as livestock. Because of this, I believe the ecological consequences of killing a breeding wolf should be considered beyond simply counting the individual wolf removed. I fear that many people seeking to slaughter these animals, have constructed their rhetoric based on emotion and fear mongering.

~Saria Wolf, Unity Environmental University

There is an active petition ongoing if you would like to contribute.

https://secure.speciesunite.com/page/195573/petition/1...

Sources:

Barber-Meyer, S. M., Mech, L. D., Newton, W. E., & Borg, B. L. (2016). Differential wolf-pack-size persistence and the role of risk when hunting dangerous prey. Behaviour, 153(12), 1473–1487. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-00003391

Borg, B. L., Brainerd, S. M., Meier, T. J., & Prugh, L. R. (2015). Impacts of breeder loss on social structure, reproduction and population growth in a social canid. Journal of Animal Ecology, 84(1), 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12256

MacNulty, D. R., Tallian, A., Stahler, D. R., & Smith, D. W. (2014). Influence of group size on the success of wolves hunting bison. PLoS ONE, 9(11), e112884. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112884

I've already signed the petition, but im wondering if there's anything else i can do? Im going to be making a good lot of posts telling people about the mollies pack, and to do anything you can. Also, im in the uk and dont know much about U.S politics and laws, but i'm trying to learn.

I just finished this drawing of her, It's on A3 paper and is my best yet! Ill probably add a few more details tomorrow .