Full-blooded wolf slain in Grand Chute
By Steve Wideman
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
GRAND CHUTE – A full-blooded wolf that authorities believe was passing
through the area was shot and killed Thursday morning near the Fox River
Mall after being hit by a car.
Adrian Wydeven, a wolf specialist with the state Department of Natural
Resources, identified the dead animal as a full-blooded wolf, not a
wolf/dog hybrid.
“The facial features were consistent with a wolf. The backs of the ears
were cinnamon colored, which is real distinctive in Great Lakes wolves,”
Wydeven said.
DNR warden Mike Young shot the female wolf, estimated to weigh 80 pounds,
north of Grande Market Drive and west of McCarthy Road about 9 a.m., after
tracking its winding path for three miles.
Wydeven said it’s unusual for wolves to be in this area.
“We have about 335 wolves in the state. The nearest wolf packs are at the
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin and in northern
Marinette County,” Wydeven said.
Wydeven said wolves are in the process of being removed from the
threatened species list in Wisconsin, but are still considered threatened
by the federal government.
The wolf suffered a broken leg and other injuries when struck by a car
about 6:30 a.m. on Wisconsin 96 near Mayflower Drive.
Susanne Jorgenson of Greenville was driving on 96 when the wolf jumped in
front of her car.
“After I hit it I turned around. I could see quite clearly it was a wolf,”
Jorgenson said. “I got out of my car to try slowing other traffic so it
wouldn’t hit the wolf, without thinking about the danger of being by the
wolf. I just wish it hadn’t happened.”
Wydeven said wolves dispersing from their home territories travel an
average of 75 miles, but sometimes go further in search of a new home.
“My assumption is this wolf was passing through,” Wydeven said. “Just last
week a truck struck and killed a wolf on I-94 east of Madison. In June a
wolf shot in eastern Indiana about 12 miles from the Ohio border had ear
tags indicating it was from the Black River Falls area.”
Joann Engel, a naturalist with the Bubolz Nature Preserve in Grand Chute,
said no wolf prints have ever been found on the preserve, located about
one mile from Thursday’s accident scene.
“The nearest previous wolf sighting was several years ago when a wolf was
tracked moving along State 54 from Green Bay to Necedah where it
established a pack,” Engel said.
Wydeven said the wolf killed in Grand Chute will be sent to the National
Wildlife Health Center in Madison for testing before being made a specimen
and possibly donated to a Fox Cities nature preserve.