Back in 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( Ed Bangs ) kicked off its “Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Project” with the release of Canadian timber , Huge wolves in Yellowstone National Park. . At that time, Yellowstone’s northern elk herd was 20,000 elk living in the park and in the adjacent areas.
Then, the experimental, non-essential Canadian timber wolf population of the Greater Yellowstone Area decimated the elk, deer, moose, and other animals... a great wildlife disaster ...
https://bowhunting.net/artman/publish/Lobo_Watch/Which_Wolf_Is_The_Right_Wolf.shtml
They did it illegally. They knew these weren’t a native wolf species. As you say it’s been a wildlife disaster.
How Canadian Wolves Got to Yellowstone
https://www.huntingfishing.com/index.php/canadian-wolves-got-yellowstone/