Wolf or coyote? Wildlife mystery in Nevada solved with DNA testing

From CBS:

Three wolves roaming the mountains in northeastern Nevada would have been notable for a state without an established wolf population. But one recent sighting of a wolf-like animal trio in that area turned out to be a false alarm, after an investigation and a round of genetic tests revealed that the creatures are almost surely coyotes, the Nevada Department of Wildlife said.

Coyotes are common throughout Nevada, including in some of its major cities. Wolves are not, and they are rarely seen in the state despite populating surrounding regions in Idaho, Oregon and Northern California. Nevada wildlife officials told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2017 that a lone wolf was confirmed to have been spotted within state lines — the first in almost a century.

 

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Endangered red wolf pack welcomes new litter of pups

From BBC:

In early May, a pack of endangered red wolves welcomed a special litter of pups. Biologists are working hard to raise the population of red wolves, which is down to around 20 in the wild.

The eight pups were born when a male red wolf called Finch integrated with a wild wolf pack, after spending seven years in captivity.

Finch was born and raised at Wolf Haven International in Washington before being released at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. The two organisations are working with the Red Wolf Recovery Program at the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

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Red wolf pups signal hope for endangered species in NC

From Public News Service:

Ahead of Endangered Species Day this Friday, conservation groups in North Carolina are celebrating the birth of eight red wolf pups at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

Red wolves, once a dominant presence across the Southeastern United States, are now teetering on the brink of extinction, with only 30 confirmed adults living in the wild.

Heather Clarkson, Southeast program outreach representative for Defenders of Wildlife, explained ongoing efforts to revive the population have been met with both hardships and victories.

 

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Colorado wolf found dead last month was likely killed by a mountain lion, federal officials say

From The Denver Post:

The reintroduced Colorado wolf found dead last month in Larimer County likely died after being attacked by a mountain lion, according to a necropsy conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The gray wolf was one of 10 released in December in Colorado’s central mountains as part of a voter-mandated reintroduction effort. The wolf is the first of the group to die, bringing the state’s known population of wolves to 11 — including two wolves remaining from a pack established earlier from wolves that had migrated from Wyoming.

 

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The Ghost Wolves of Galveston vs. Margaritaville

From Texas Monthly:

Bridgett vonHoldt was grabbing lunch at Viet Cajun, a restaurant on the Galveston Island Seawall, when a chatty local approached her. The man had pegged her and her group, correctly, as out-of-towners. Birders, he figured, if the binoculars they carried were any clue. “You know what you should do,” he told vonHoldt, “is go look at these wolves.”

 

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Idaho’s wolf killings decline as board advances private contracts

From Boise Public Radio:

The number of wolves killed in Idaho this past year is down. Katie Oelrich with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game told members of the Wolf Depredation Control Board Thursday that 389 wolves have been killed in the state since last July.

“This includes hunting, trapping, Wildlife Services removals, roadkill and all the other things that we get brought into us or we’re notified of,” she said.

The total number of wolves killed is about 10% lower than last year and 20% lower than the past three years.

 

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Hunter Wants ‘Wyoming Solution’ To Any Reform That Comes From Wolf Torture

From Cowboy State Daily:

The eyes of the world have been on Wyoming since a wolf was tortured and killed in Daniel, but if reform is to come from the incident, it should be Wyoming’s business, not the world’s, an avid hunter from Dubois said.

“I think that here in Wyoming, we recognize that we have our own solutions to our problems. We don’t need outside organizations pressuring the federal government to come in and change things for us,” Jim Laybourn told Cowboy State Daily.

 

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Not opposed to shooting predators, former Colorado rancher speaks out against Wyoming wolf killing

From Vail Daily:

Born and raised on a Cherokee reservation in North Carolina, Grey Bear owned Sleeping Giant Ranch in Routt County from 2002 to 2017 and now owns a hunting and fishing lodge in the British Columbia, Canada.

The Canadian province, larger than the countries of France and Germany combined, is a place where wildlife officials estimate there to be a population of roughly 8,500 grey wolves.

Over the phone Thursday, Grey Bear said the wolves have taken on average 1.5 horses per year from his property in north-central British Columbia and, on occasions where he has caught wolves in the act, he has killed the predators.

 

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Bill targets gray wolf endangered status

From Quetico Superior Wilderness News:

The current population in Minnesota stands relatively stable at around 2,900 wolves. Prime habitat lies within the Quetico Superior region, where they prefer forests and inland wetlands. If the bill passes into law, it means that management would shift from federal to state governance. While the Biden administration has expressed opposition, opinions are different at local levels.

“Delisting a species is not just a numbers game,” Jill Fritz, Senior Director of Wildlife Protection with the U.S. Humane Society told WDIO. “In December, we checked in with the Minnesota DNR, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, and the Voyageurs Wolf Project to see if the Timber wolf is to blame for the deer decline in Northern Minnesota.”

 

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Another confirmed wolf depredation in Grand County

From Sky-Hi News:

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed that one yearling heifer was killed by a wolf or wolves in Grand County. CPW confirmed this most recent depredation on Saturday.

CPW posted the incident on its Wolf Depredation Report webpage on its website on Sunday. CPW defines any depredation as physical trauma resulting in injury or death.

According to local sources, this most recent depredation occurred on the same property where five other cattle have been killed. This marks the seventh event in Colorado since wolves were released, involving nine cattle.

 

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