Caleb Warnock – Daily Herald
State biologists hiking in the wilderness over the weekend found the carcass of a moose that had been fed on by wolves or wolf-dog hybrids. The biologists also collected scat.
On Tuesday, that scat was sent to a laboratory at the University of California at Los Angeles, and biologists here hope that DNA extracted from the droppings will determine whether the animals spotted by helicopter near Springville two weeks ago are wolves or wolf-dog hybrids.
Test results will likely take a couple weeks.
“Hopefully we will know what we are dealing with,” said Mark Hadley, spokesman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, crews have hiked in to play recorded wolf howls “in hopes they will respond back to us, to pinpoint where they are at, but we have not had any luck.”
Crews will try again next week.
So far, the animals have eluded all attempts to capture them. A helicopter capture crew followed five sets of tracks through wilderness areas, but because snow conditions on the ground were sporadic, they weren’t able to locate the animals. While following the tracks, crews discovered the carcasses of three big game animals they believe the animals had been feeding on.
Kevin Bunnell of the DWR has said if the animals are hybrids, they have likely been released into the wild by people who had them as pets and wanted to get rid of them. Officials have said the animals will be protected if they are purebred wolves and killed if they are hybrids. A wolf-dog hybrid occurring in nature is extremely unlikely.