There was no advanced warning Jan. 12, 1995, when wolves were released in Yellowstone National Park, said then-Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer. 

At least a phone call would have been a “professional courtesy” on the part of then-U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, he said. 

“It was thrown in my lap. Babbitt never called me in advance,” Geringer told Cowboy State Daily. “He called me after he landed with the plane — the plane that had the wolves in it that came from Canada.”

Until then, Geringer’s office didn’t have a clue that the wolf releases were happening that day, he said. 

“Apparently, we didn’t have a good enough intelligence network to get a, ‘Hey, head’s up, he’s coming.’ All we got was, ‘Hey, he’s here,’” Geringer said