Phil Potter
Kentucky Fish & Wildlife biologists freely admit the Bluegrass State is being invaded by aliens but they aren’t little green men from Planet Xenon. Nope, these are a host of wild critters that are either moving in, or moving through the state.
First it was mountain lions, black bears and wild boars followed by armadillo’s. Now another critter has grabbed the headlines — a gray wolf.
This particular wolf was mistaken by a coyote hunter who killed it near Munfordville in Hart County on March 16. The hunter suspected he’d accidentally shot a wolf and called F&W officials who took charge of the carcass and sent it to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for DNA testing.
Test results were recently analyzed and the USFWS report states the 73 pound critter was a genetically pure gray wolf. However, it may not have been wild.
The necropsy of the beast revealed it had a large amount of plaque on its teeth giving rise to speculation that it possibly spent some time in a pen. Biologists say plaque isn’t normally found on wild wolf fangs because when they crush through large animal bones plaque gets flossed off.
So does improper dental care prove the wolf wasn’t wild even though its DNA shows it has the same genetics as gray wolves native to the Michigan, Ontario and Wisconsin area? Maybe not if you consider the animal could have noshed on discarded food scraps and small animals as it traveled to Kentucky.
Three years ago a coyote hunter in Indiana killed a slightly larger wolf on the Indiana-Ohio border. This one was traced back to Michigan and DNA tests definitely linked it to wolves there. Experts surmise it wound its way through Chicago and Gary, Ind., before almost crossing into Ohio.
Possibly the Kentucky wolf followed a similar travel plan and managed to cross a bridge or swim into Kentucky. But if the animal in question actually migrated what did it live on during the travel?
Wolves in the wild can subside on zero to meager rations for at least a week without problems. Perhaps it scrounged up roadside garbage and pet food on the cross country trek. Don’t snort at this suggestion because urbanized coyotes in all big cities regularly do it.
Could a wandering wolf learn urban survival skills by fraternizing with feral dogs or urban coyotes? Not likely, because wolves regularly attack them on sight, often killing and eating parts of them.
So what prompts a lone wolf to leave its home range? Usually it’s through natural disbursement when wolf packs outgrow their food sources. Contrary to many animal rights reports wolves in the U.S. have outdone themselves in repopulating former ranges.
Wolves are being federally delisted and five states conduct sanctioned wolf hunts because there are too many of them for the amount of suitable habitat.
Unfortunately, some wolf disbursement also comes from humans illegally transporting them for pets or illegal releases into the wild. State and federal laws nix this nonsense and levy heavy fines for violators. Contact your state wildlife agencies if you know of such activities.