Two pairs of local wolves are settling in to their new home on a Lake Superior island - in Michigan.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and US National Parks Service say they captured one male and one female from the Wawa area, as well as two male wolves from Michipicoten Island - all four were successfully transferred to Isle Royale National Park, which is located in western Lake Superior - near Thunder Bay - though it is within Michigan's borders.
They join three Minnesota wolves brought to the island last fall, part of efforts to boost its native wolf population, which had dropped to a single male and a single female, unable to successfully mate due to inbreeding and genetic deformities.
Reviving that wolf population is also part of efforts to restore a level of predator-prey balance, as Isle Royale has about 2000 moose with no other predators.
The National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation has provided a $50,000 grant to help move and monitor the wolves, and has offered the US Interior Department a further $55,000 to cover any National Park Service costs for ongoing research conducted on the island every winter since 1959, by Michigan Technological University researchers.