A Nevada hunter has publicly vowed to kill 1090F, Yellowstone's oldest wolf, when Wyoming's hunt opens Sept. 15. Take action to protect the pack.
Wolf 1090F is, by most estimates, the oldest wolf currently living in the Yellowstone ecosystem. She leads the Mollie's pack, the park's longest-running wolf family, whose lineage stretches back to the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone in 1995. At 12 years old, she has outlasted most of the wolves ever born there.
Now a hunter says he’s out to kill her, specifically.
A Hunter Fixated on an Iconic Target
A Nevada man who posts under the name "Kyri Ranch" has been telling his roughly 14,000 Facebook followers for weeks that killing 1090F is his goal for this fall's hunting trip to Wyoming, according to Cowboy State Daily. In one post, he wrote, "The matriarch 1090F is going down on the 15th of September," which happens to be opening day of Wyoming's wolf hunt in Wolf Hunt Area 1, the exact area where the Mollie's pack has denned. A separate post, paired with an image of a wolf carcass, spelled out that he plans to arrive with several companions with the stated aim of killing 1090F specifically.
This is not a hunter participating in a regulated system of ecosystem or species management (albeit one World Animal Protection does not condone). It is a targeted stunt fixated on locating and killing one identifiable, well-documented, elderly animal, broadcast in advance to thousands of followers to achieve notoriety. The disturbing parallels to Cecil the lion—whose killing by a trophy hunter sparked global outrage more than a decade ago—are difficult to ignore: once again, an individual animal known to the public is being targeted for no other reason than notoriety. This isn’t hunting; it’s trophy hunting.
The System Makes Her Easy to Find and Hard to Shield
The numbers make this more than an idle threat. The combined kill quota across Wolf Hunt Areas 1 and 2 is only four wolves total. The Mollie's pack's territory sits inside Area 1. Wyoming state law also prohibits its own Game and Fish Department from disclosing wolf hunters' identities to the public, a rule intended to shield hunters from harassment, but that protection does nothing for a wolf whose whereabouts are already tracked and shared widely by wildlife photographers and park visitors.
Advocates had previously floated a $10,000 reward for anyone who could identify a hunter who killed a member of the Mollie's pack, hoping the threat of public exposure would change behavior. That reward offer has since been dropped. One local outdoorsman told Cowboy State Daily he doubts the hunt can be avoided at all, suggesting it's only a matter of time before someone in that pack's territory pulls the trigger, famous wolf or not.
Why It's Bigger Than a Local Hunting Dispute
Some have argued that objecting to this hunt amounts to outsiders interfering in how Wyoming manages its own wildlife. But 1090F's pack doesn't stop at a park boundary, and neither does the problem with killing a specific, named animal to generate attention online. A wolf advocate quoted in the same news article called trophy hunting done purely "to spite others" disgraceful, and it's hard to see this as anything resembling ethical, science-based wildlife management.
Wolves live in close-knit family groups and depend on experienced elders like 1090F to lead them. The Mollie's pack has already survived the near-eradication of wolves from the region and three decades of shifting policy. What 1090F hasn't previously had to survive is a hunter publicly naming her as his target weeks before the season even opens.
What You Can Do
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission still has time to act before the season opens. Urge the commission to close Wolf Hunt Area 1 and keep Yellowstone's most storied wolf family out of a trophy hunter's crosshairs.
Take action now to help save Yellowstone's oldest wolf pack.