{O/C} Four days ago, America's first national park, the Yellowstone National Park, marked its 150th anniversary since it was established in 1872. Yet, a word of warning tonight from mother nature that the number of wolves in America's first national park -- the Yellowstone National Park -- is plunging to a record low marked the occasion.
{RVO}
Avid wildlife watchers had seen the emaciated carcass of a wolf on the hillside overlooking the national park, with the body enough to attract scavengers.
This, as hunters have shot and incarcerated 25 of Yellowstone's around 95 wolves, with the bulk of them killed near the park's border in Montana.
The hunting has eliminated about one-fifth of the park's wolves, posing the gravest threat to a declining wolf population.
The park's staff members performed the most remarkable and celebrated feat in 1995, when they released wolves into Yellowstone, where they had been wiped out in preceding decades.
They made a comeback with a vengeance, which is documented in books, documentaries and daily reports from passionate and devoted wildlife watchers enthralled with wolves and their stories.
Now, many have watched in horror as the fight for the precious wolves' survival rages on.
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