Posted on 05/23/2004 11:12:21 AM PDT by nuconvert
Adirondack Wolf Spawns Many Theories About Whether to Bring the Animals Back to New York
By Michael Virtanen/Associated Press
May 23, 2004
EDINBURG, N.Y. (AP) - The night Russ Lawrence shot dead the first confirmed Adirondack wolf in a century, the big canine wasn't alone. It came for the hunter's bait on a winter night with another animal. "It wasn't as big, but it was a pretty good size," Lawrence said. "That's why I figured it was a female."
At first, Lawrence figured he'd killed a record-sized coyote that January night in 2002, and he contacted state conservation officials. It was a healthy 85-pound male, more than twice the average coyote size, but with the same features and color as its common relative.
Two years later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took tissue for genetic analysis and concluded it was pure gray wolf. That quickly raised questions: Had a loner wandered down from the upper Midwest or Canada? Was the other animal Lawrence saw a gray wolf, too?
And the big one: Had wolves, once at risk of extinction, made their way back to the Adirondacks?
Wildlife experts agree they haven't, because populations would be noticed, as they have in the West and upper Midwest. The animals, also known as timber wolves, tend to live in small packs, move around, vocalize frequently and hunt.
But the kill touched off a new round of debate over whether to bring the wolf back to New York. Farmers say coyotes are enough of a problem already, preying on young calves and other livestock. But some advocates of reintroducing the wolves say the animals would help the environment.
"If they're filling essentially the same niche, does it make a difference whether we call it a coyote or a wolf?" said Al Hicks, wildlife biologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "I guess it's whatever makes you feel better."
Feared as threats to livestock and people, wolves were hunted nearly to extinction by the 1930s in the continental United States.
Last August, after their cultivated resurgence in the West and Midwest, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service moved the gray wolf from endangered to threatened after 30 years. There are now almost 4,000 gray wolves and about 250 red wolves in the lower 48 states.
Killing them still can bring a fine up to $100,000 per individual, $200,000 per organization.
Lawrence won't be prosecuted, said Diana Weaver, spokeswoman for the wildlife service. "At times the goal of enforcement is not so much punishment but education and compliance," she said.
The federal agency has no plans to reintroduce wolves in the Northeast, and would first need backing from the states anyway. New York state officials have said wolves might be incompatible with the interests of residents and farmers.
Brad Devries, spokesman for Defenders of Wildlife, disagrees. He says wolves are effective predators that will move deer around the territory, benefiting plant species and smaller animals.
Wolves now inhabit parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Algonquin Park in Ontario. Individuals have been known to travel hundreds of miles.
Lawrence was hunting at the southeastern edge of the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, on private land 40 miles north of Albany. He was 200 miles from the Algonquin Park and more than 400 miles from Michigan. The 48-year-old roofer has hunted coyotes for about 10 years, selling the furs in Canada.
Scientists say it's possible the animal came down from Canada, though intense hunting and trapping outside the Algonquin Park would make the trip treacherous.
And the other animal Lawrence saw? It could have been a coyote - or another wolf, said Roland Kays, mammals curator at the State Museum in Albany.
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That's beautiful. I love them. However, they are the means to an end:
http://www.wildlandsprojectrevealed.org
We had two attacks against humans here in Wis and Upper Michigan last year. ATTACKS and not as the DNR and Fish and Wildlife would have you believe as a simple curious advance.
One was a out and out stalk and attack against a logger where three came at him. A big one directly, with two others, one each side of him.
The other was against another woodsman who had to get into his vehicle as the things came right for him.
Just Wait..the deer population suffered last year because of the harsh winter. Next year there could well be a kill made on a child waiting for a school bus.
I wonder if these two wolves had any tags, tattoos, radios, scannable implants, or chips -- or if they had prior 'history' with wildlife agencies on either side of the border.
The same 'niche' as coyotes? I think we can expect the wolf to carve out a much larger 'niche'.
Beautiful animal. I wonder how long it will take for the usual crowd to come out and say it's time to 'kill every wolf. '
PING
Interesting ! I recall an incident during the (very severe) winter of 1950,when a wolf pack chased some ice fishermen across Lake George. There was also quite a "coy-dog" problem in the upper states,with the hybrids forming packs and raiding farms.
No, It was a total shock that they found a wolf in the Adirondacks
The same 'niche' as coyotes? I think we can expect the wolf to carve out a much larger 'niche'.
Well the Adirondack park which is bigger than Yellowstone, Yosmite and the Grand Canyon combined has the room.
Actually this hunter should have been prosecuted, Baiting animals is illegal in New York.
Actually it is possible, One of the biggest reasons wolf reintroduction didn't go forward in the Adirondacks is because it was found that the Eastern Coyote instead of being killed by the wolves would actually breed with them.
Wow. That's scary.
That's interesting
I've seen them in Michigan twice. , and I'm in the Lower Penninsula.
FYI, pong
They're not allowed here...... : - )
about now!!! they might serve a purpose somewhere but it is not anywhere near where i live.
Wisconsin Outdoor News. May 7 issue, page 7.
I had a couple of them follow me at a long distance a year ago this winter. I considered that a curious type follow as they didnt advance closer. They were at about 300 yards from me all the while.
These were out and out advances or attacks that these fellows had happen to them.
If they're stalking and attacking humans, they need to remedy that situation.
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