This myth is helped by the Internet, where photos such as this one are available to prove the presence of these giant wolves. This photo was on a blog site with a caption stating this 230-pound wolf was killed outside Sun Valley.
A website titled Unexplained Mysteries of the World shows this same photo under the heading “Huge Packs Of Giant Canadian Gray Wolves Are Terrifying Idaho Residents.” Its article includes “So what are residents of Idaho going to do when packs of 40 or 50 of these predators start openly invading small communities?”
The problem with this myth is only one species of wolf lives in North America. At one time, the gray wolf occupied land from Alaska to Mexico and coast to coast. It still lives in much of Canada and was transplanted into Idaho from Canada. The species has no giant sub-species. Females typically weigh 60-100 pounds, and males weigh 70-145 pounds. Packs consist of 5-10 individuals.
The Idaho Mountain Express has an article where Idaho Department of Fish and Game employees comment on this same photo. Basically, they see nothing extraordinary about it. The photo shows a fairly typical wolf. They do not feel the photo had been doctored, or “photoshopped.” Such photos are common and are usually taken in Canada and then attributed to spots around the western U.S. The wolf is always in front of the hunter, which makes the wolf look larger.
People who work with wolves say this wolf is most likely a large male, perhaps as much as 130 pounds but nowhere near the 180-230 pounds usually described in the text. Wolves have long legs and hair and always look very large when displayed like this. A wide-angle lens may have exaggerated the size of the wolf in the foreground. One question conveniently not answered in such text is how a man could hold up a 230-pound wolf.
The real problem is with the accompanying text. Viewers, not having seen a lot of dead wolves, have no problem with the description accompanying the photos. These viewers often want to believe huge wolves are out there, wolves that must be more savage, run in larger packs and are much more dangerous.
Idaho wolves are just wolves, not monsters.