By: Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awaiting genetic results to confirm whether a large canine shot Nov. 24 south of Watford City, N.D., is a gray wolf.
Rich Grosz, an agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck, said results from the testing will determine whether the federal agency conducts an investigation. Gray wolves remain under federal protection in North Dakota west of the Missouri River and U.S. Highway 83.
“If it’s a hybrid or not a wolf, there’s absolutely no investigation,” Grosz said.
According to Stephanie Tucker, furbearer biologist for the state Game and Fish Department, the animal was a young male that weighed 96 pounds. The hunter who killed the animal felt threatened and shot it, she said.
“From the physical characteristics, I would say there’s a good chance it will come back as a purebred wolf,” Tucker said.
If a wolf in North Dakota is shot east of the Missouri River and Highway 83, the Fish and Wildlife Service no longer would investigate. Wolves in the eastern two-thirds of North Dakota are part of the Great Lakes population segment, which includes Minnesota, Wisconsin and parts of Michigan, where wolves now are managed by the states.
If the animal is confirmed as a wolf, Tucker said it most likely dispersed from a western state such as Montana or Idaho rather than Minnesota. Wolves have been known to disperse as far as 200 miles, she said, but biologists haven’t documented cross-country treks such as those made by mountain lions.
According to Tucker, the last confirmed sighting of a gray wolf in North Dakota occurred in January 2011, when a coyote hunter mistakenly shot a wolf near Hillsboro, N.D. The Great Lakes wolf population still was under federal protection at that time, but the Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t charge the hunter, Grosz said.