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Officials at Isle Royale National Park are temporarily closing parts of a popular campground — and implementing special measures at two others — because of an “increasingly bold” wolf.

The closure affects individual tent and group campsites at the Three Mile Campground, not far from the Rock Harbor hub on the east side of the Lake Superior island.

“Over the past week, a wolf has been spotted in the campground, sniffing and pawing at tents, dragging backpacks away from tents, and entering a tent,” park officials 

 Thursday. “The wolf has become increasingly bold, showing signs of habituation and a growing reliance on human food.”

The closure at the Three Mile Campground is set to run through July 31 and also includes off-trail camping zones in the area. Shelters at the campground will remain open.

“The park has addressed the issue through hazing, improved trash and recycling management, and stricter food storage rules, but wolf interest in human food and trash continues,” park officials said. “This recent focus on tents and backpacks at Three Mile Campground is a serious concern.”

The park plans to step up hazing efforts in the area during daylight hours to try to discourage the wolf from returning — including “loudly shouting, stomping, clapping, sounding airhorns and discharging paintball guns.”

The park will also install noise-producing devices not just at Three Mile, but also at the Rock Harbor and Daisy Farm Campgrounds, “to alert staff and visitors of wolf presence.”

Earlier this week — from Monday through Wednesday — the park 

 another campground, Duncan Narrows, due to “increasing frequency of interactions between humans and wildlife.” The park did not say whether that also involved a wolf.

 after an “escalating number of concerning incidents reported by park visitors.”

, requiring all backpackers and paddlers to “store food, trash, and scented items in a food storage locker, or in an approved, animal-resistant, hard-sided container.”

An annual survey of the wolf population on Isle Royale 

 on the island this past winter — the highest number since the late 1970s. But the island’s moose population — a major food source for wolves — has dropped sharply.

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Andrew Krueger

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“Over the past week, a wolf has been spotted in the campground, sniffing and pawing at tents, dragging backpacks away from tents, and entering a tent,” officials at the Lake Superior island park said in a news release.

Isle Royale campground temporarily closed because of ‘increasingly bold’ wolf

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