moose1915

saturdays times union, a "85lb coyote" shot by a hunter was OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED by encon pathologist Ward Stone to be a pure gray wolf. There was much debate over the issue, but DNA testing confirmed it was a wolf indeed.

one animal does not a population make, and it certainly could have been an illegal pet gotten loose, but this is NOT an URBAN LEGEND. ity was taken this year in upstate NY.
see saturdays times union for the write up.

Pretty interesting!

timberjack82

Actually most "coyotes" in the northeast east are the Brush wolf, but if the officials said that they were wolves then we could not hunt them. And I also believe that the Game commision would set out wolves as an experiment on the deer herd, maybe. And I know of PA agme officers saying that "off the record we do have cougars in PA, but on the record we dont". So wolves in New York, Id say its possible.

vtbuckrulrss

hey, kinda cool, but i was just wondering, where was this "wolf" shot, for those of us that don't know where the newspaper is from. "Actually most "coyotes" in the northeast east are the Brush wolf". where in the world did you hear this from, timberjack? the last i knew, a coyote is a coyote is a coyote, however, the eastern version is a larger subspecies than the western version do to the believed crossbreeding at one point with the red wolf. the term "brushwolf" is just a nickname, like 'yote is also.

moose1915

"Russ Lawrence shot it 2 years ago in the foothills of the adirondacks in saratoga county. it is the ist confirmed wolf found in NY since 1899."

"it was examined by fesral fish ans wildlife officers and scientists who did tests on the skull, hide and tissues. It was also examined by SUNY's College of environmental science in syracuse."

"Several months of genetic testing later, The National Forensics LAb of Ashland OR. determined it was a pure-bred gray wolf."

these are not my words, they were on the front page of saturdays times union (the capital districts paper). i would not have believed it myself (i am a skeptic) but the facts are the facts.....

Think of it what you will but Don't bother putting the word wolf in parenthesis, because like it or not it happened.

-moose
as far as cougars go, i still say "prove it", and no one has in 150 years.
as far as wolves went, i also said "prove it", and they did. DNA don't lie.

vtbuckrulrss

thanks for giving me the rest of the story, like you said, the facts are the facts. but now this raises another question, a few years back when a hunter shot one in Maine, he got into a bunch of ttrouble for it, i wonder if this guy got into trouble for it too?

moose1915

the guy tried to turn it into encon, they flat out told him it was NOT a wolf. He contacted some wolf advocacy org., looking for help confirming what it was. no help. SOOO he decides to get this BIG "coyote" mounted, and then all of a sudden USF&G come to his house, question him, go to the taxidermist and confiscate it. for 2 years, theyve got his Wolf, and he's out his deposit to the 'dermist.
when he finally got the confirmation he wanted all along, they kept the grey wolf, he's out the cash he put down, and no charges were filed.

jerseyhunter

Isn't that par for govt. agencys.[:@]

farm hunter

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories...date=3/21/2004