Friday, October 31, 2014

Grand Canyon gray wolf sighting could be first in 70 years

A western gray wolf has been documented roaming the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, for the first time in more than 70 years. The wolf was photographed recently, but at the time of this post, as the news was breaking, the photograph had not been made public and the sighting had not been officially confirmed. However, the Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday announced the sighting in a press release.  The wolf was wearing what seemed to be an inactive radio collar, and the animal is believed to have dispersed from a pack in the northern Rocky Mountains. The last-known wolf in Grand Canyon National Park was killed in the 1940s. The Center for Biological Diversity points out that this wolf is protected under the Endangered Species Act, and cautioned hunters and ranchers against trying to kill or harm the animal. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to a report by Reuters, is going to attempt to capture the wolf. If the predator is from the northern Rockies, where wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s, it would have ranged hundreds of miles to reach the North Rim. There was speculation that the wolf seen on the North Rim might have been a Mexican gray wolf, as opposed to a western gray wolf. But those who have viewed the photograph have said the animal looked too large to be a Mexican gray wolf. The sighting comes as the Obama Administration is pushing to remove protections for western gray wolves...more

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