4 wolf pups found dead - Wyo.

Authorities are releasing few details about four wolf pups discovered dead late last week on public land south of Jackson. A Wyoming law prohibits wildlife managers from identifying anyone who legally kills a wolf — or releasing information that could lead to such an ID. “At this point we can’t confirm, one way or another, whether they were legally taken or how they died,” Wyoming Game and Fish Department spokesman Mark Gocke said. “The state statute says that if they’re legally taken, we have to release information in aggregate.” The four wolf pups were born this year, so they would have been about 4 or 5 months old. They were taken to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie for necropsies. The Jackson Hole News&Guide received a tip that the dead wolf pups were found near the Mill Iron Ranch, which is at the end of Horse Creek Road, and that they possibly died of parvovirus, a contagious disease found in dogs. Gocke could not confirm the veracity of this information because of the state-ordered gag order. More information may become available, he said, after the lab results come in. A Mill Iron Ranch employee reached over the phone Sunday declined the Jackson Hole Daily’s request for an interview. “We don’t want to comment,” she said...MORE