There is a female gray wolf roaming the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Spotted and verified. First one since the 1940's.
Dsrtrat
Damn......I hope she stays in the park, if she moves out to the Kaibab forest she's a goner. I also know of a wolf being hit on Highway 89 north of Flagstaff a few years back, a migrant from the Mexican grey wolf releases in Eastern Arizona. I have had the pleasure of hearing a few of them howl in the White Mountains.
Apologies if this is old information:
Wolves used to be, before man, the most widely distributed land animal on earth. Its not surprising that with protections they would attempt to re-establish their ranges. On the Kaibab wolves were hunted to extinction in the 1920's to 1940's, ostensibly to proctect the deer herds, which Teddy Rooselvet had declared a "National Treasure". Predictably the deer herds exploded (from 3,000 to 100,000) and had to be slaughtered on masse in the 1930's and 40's, as they were starving and had completely destroyed the range. So much for man being a great wildlife manager. Fortunately we can also learn from our mistakes.
Most of the objections to wolves are, like the negative posts here, unintelligible and incoherent. Wolves are ultimately good for everyone, except maybe some marginal, dub T welfare ranchers. But even they can be compensated for any losses, so the objections are really visceral ingrained hatred of any large top-tier predator.
For the record, I have a BS in Zoology from Northern Arizona University, along with a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. Not a wildlife biologist.
Edited by imix, 29 November 2014 - 04:30 PM.