Identity of wolf might remain a mystery
By Jeff Dankert / Winona Daily News
The identity of a what appears to be a gray wolf shot Nov. 15 in Houston County
might never be known, a state Department of Natural Resources wildlife
biologist said this week.
“I don’t know that we ever will in the formal sense,” John Erb said.
A youth shot and killed the wolf while deer hunting on private land between the
Minnesota towns of Houston and La Crescent. The youth told a warden he thought
it was a coyote. No charges were filed.
Every biologist who has seen the animal, or photos of it, believe it is a wild
wolf or an escaped captive wolf, but not a wolf-dog hybrid, Erb said.
“It did, in fact, look a like a true wolf,” he said.
Because of the female wolf’s weight, 115 pounds, biologists are skeptical of it
being from the wild. Female Minnesota wolves normally weigh 70 to 90 pounds.
But spending a great deal of time and money on expensive tests, such as DNA,
for one wolf would only answer a trivia question, not a crucial management
question, Erb said.
“Wolves are in Minnesota and we have a healthy population,” Erb said. “For us
it’s not necessarily a piece of critical information. We have wolves, they’ve
become established. If there were a quick, free way to do it, sure, we would do
it.”
Gray wolf populations have recovered from lows last century under protection by
the federal Endangered Species Act.
Within the next month or two, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to
upgrade Wisconsin and Michigan wolves from the endangered to the threatened
list, Erb said.
The same process is expected to begin in Minnesota, with the state taking over
wolf management authority. But don’t hold your breath, Erb said.
“It’s almost certain there will be a lawsuit challenging the de-listing,” he
said, adding that litigation could delay the process two to five years.
People who illegally kill wolves in Minnesota can be charged with a gross
misdemeanor, fined up to $3,000, charged restitution of $2,000, and jailed for
up to a year.