A lone gray wolf was reportedly spotted multiple times this month wandering through the Grand Canyon. This may be the first time a gray wolf roamed Arizona since its species was eradicated from the state in the 1940s.
This wolf is wearing an inactive radio collar. Federal agencies are investigating whether this is a wolf, or a wolf-dog hybrid. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is attempting to collect a feces sample so they can run a DNA test to know for sure whether or not this is a hybrid.
"Until more is known about this animal, visitors to the area are cautioned that this may be a wolf from the northern Rocky Mountain population and fully protected under the Endangered Species Act," the FWS said.
The gray wolf has a tumultuous history in America. Some Native American tribes revered the gray wolf as a hunter. However, European settlers drove the gray wolf to the brink of extinction. It wasn't until 1973, when the Endangered Species Act was instituted, that the gray wolf gained some protection. Then, in the 1990s, the FWS began reinstating the wolf in national parks, like Yellowstone. These efforts restored the gray wolf population in the Midwest region to about 1,600 wolves, much higher than the FWS's original goal of 300 wolves.
Now, federal officials are wondering whether to remove Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves nationwide. The gray wolf's numbers are already high enough that protections were lifted in certain states. Since the 2000s, ranchers in states like Montana and Idaho have worried that the protections against gray wolves leaves them unable to protect their livestock from attack. One rancher found that wolves had killed 120 of his sheep overnight.
Since 2002, ranchers have been campaigning to revert control of the wolf population from federal to state control, so that they could kill a certain amount of wolves a year to protect their livelihoods. This year, the FWS proposed to take the wolf off of the Endangered Species Act list. Some environmental protection groups have fought back to keep the wolves listed. Some feared that if the wolves were removed from the list, hunters would attempt to eradicate them again.
The FWS is planning to make a final ruling about gray wolves later this year.
