In the 1960s, biologists introduced wolves to Coronation Island in Alaska after deer overran it and decimated the forest understory. The wolves ate all the deer and, with nothing left to eat, starved. About 50 years later, the wolves of Pleasant Island Alaska found themselves in a similar situation: living on an island in the Pacific with no deer left to eat. The wolves of Pleasant Island, however, have not died out. Instead, they’ve broadened their palate to include sea otters. 

What scientists don’t know is how widespread this surf-and-turf phenomenon is. How does the complex web of wolf, deer, sea otter, hundreds of islands and a massive logging industry interact?

In 2024, a rescued border collie named Barley joined the investigation. Employed with K9 Conservationists, Barley is a professional scat detection dog with three field seasons under his belt. With the “understudy” dogs Tooma, Niffler, and Skipper, they have located over 1,500 wolf scats across 25 islands. Back at OSU, Kayla Fratt works to extract the DNA of the wolves and their prey from the fecal samples. She then uses cutting-edge genetic techniques, lasers shot from airplanes, and an awful lot of math to tell the story of the Tongass National Forest through the bum of a wolf. 

Bonus ending: This talk will conclude with a live demonstration from one of Kayla’s trained conservation detection dogs in the theater!!

Kayla Fratt is a PhD student at Oregon State University and a co-founder of K9 Conservationists. She has dedicated her life to training rescue dogs to help conservation biologists. Her research in Alaska is funded by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and her PhD studies are funded in part by the National Science Foundation.