crokit

Bristoboy20 Said:"...........it doesn't take a genius to tell the difference between a coyote and a wolf." You're probably right, but the original post said that a game warden said they were definitely WILD wolves. I doubt it, and the story. Waiting for the link that proves otherwise. Nice pics of dead wolves. Definitely a case of a picture NOT being worth a thousand words. Interesting short snouts. Were all 4-5 shot together/same time? If so, this sounds even more hoaxy. Steer me to the link stating wildness, details of kill etc.

shamlin

X2 those pics prove nothing

And besides I have always thought wolves were neat animals, I would love to have a few down here just tosee from time to time( cant do much more harm than stray dogs) even if I did have to sharea few of the deer with them.

Well.... I might shoot one for decoration

kharrison

They where not all shot at the same time. You can call it a hoax all you want but, it is all real. The conservational officer said that they think that they are hybrids but, will not know until test are done. One of them that got shot supposely attacked and killed a colt.

timbercruiser

IMHO a sighting/shooting of a wolf calls for the 3 S rule. Shoot, shovel and shutup.

BigTiny

We aren't supposed to have wolves here either, but they are around. What happens is someone raises them as pets and they get away or are dumped. They find their way back to a human population since they think of people as a food source, then they are spotted and eventually trapped by Wildlife and Fisheries. I'm sure some of them survive for a while and are shot by hunters thinking they are coyotes. I shot 2 coyotes last year and didn't even walk over to check them out. They could have been wolves and I would never know.

We have plenty of cougars even though they tell us the population is small. We weren't supposed to have black bears this far north either, but two years ago one wound up in a residential subdivision in Bossier City. Oops. Pet dumping has put lots of weird things out there. We have tilapia and pirana in some of our lakes and rivers, and plenty of pythons and other exotic snakes in our swamps. This year Dallas police found a dead tiger in the city limits; good thing they shot it instead of dumping it in the woods. There's a bunch of African feral cats out there, too. In New Orleans, we have a large population of wild parrots, cockatoos, cockateils, and budgies. One year we had two red Macaws nest in a tree behind our courtyard. That was pretty cool.

There's too much running loose out there for me to say from here that someone hasn't seen something where it shouldn't exist.

Except Bigfoot.

johnnybravoo77

News Service September 25, 2003


Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- The recent death of a wolf that wandered more than 400 miles from Wisconsin to Indiana has wildlife experts weighing whether more wild wolves might someday return to Indiana forests.
The discovery of the dead wolf was the first confirmed sighting since 1908, raising the prospect that other wolves could return to the state, where they once roamed widely.
"I think it's going to be a remote possibility, but I wouldn't say it was absolutely impossible," said Adrian Wydeven, a Wisconsin state biologist who monitors the population of wolves there.
The 1-year-old, male gray wolf was found dead in an east-central Indiana soybean field in late June. The ear-tagged wolf had traveled more than 400 miles from its pack in central Wisconsin, apparently looking for new territory. Officials said Monday the wolf had been shot to death. They have no leads in the case.
Biologists call such travel "dispersal," usually involving young males seeking out new territory and a mate.
"Once they get out of the heavily forested areas ... they become disoriented and travel great distances in a straight line," Wydeven said.
The wolf apparently traveled through the farmland of southern Wisconsin, skirted around Chicago through northern Illinois and crossed Indiana nearly to Ohio before dying.
Such lengthy journeys are not unheard of, said Ed Bangs, wolf-recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"It's a regular part of wolf behavior," Bangs told The Indianapolis Star for a story published Tuesday. "The fact that they head south that far, and through open country, is pretty unusual."
But he does not expect a wolf pack to get started in the fragmented forests of southern Indiana because many wolves that roam such distances die on the journey.
Wolves were hunted, shot and chased out of most of the United States as settlers moved west. By the 1960s, there were believed to be as few as 350 in the lower 48 states, all roaming the woods around the town of Ely in the northeast corner of Minnesota, said Andrea Lorek Strauss, education director for the International Wolf Center in that town.
Wolves were placed on the endangered species list in the 1970s, and their numbers have rebounded. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downgraded their status to "threatened" in most of the country earlier this year.
If wolves in Wisconsin continue to disperse to the south in search of new territory, Indiana may not have seen the last of them.
"I'd be very surprised if ... a population is established in the state, but only time is going to tell that for sure," said Lori Pruitt, endangered species coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Bloomington.
Kelle Reynolds, a biologist for the Hoosier National Forest, witnessed a quick spread of wolves through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan when she worked there.
"Personally, I think it would be incredible" if wolves were in the Hoosier National Forest, she said. But, she added, "I don't know what the public would think about it."
Gail Former of rural Spencer would not be pleased.
"I'm not particularly enthused about it because wolves will prey on sheep, which is what I raise," said Former, president of the Indiana Sheep Association. "We have enough of an issue in this state with coyotes and dog packs that run loose. It would be very alarming."



Friday, January 30, 2004
Wolves escape from sanctuary in western Dearborn County
[hr]



The Cincinnati Enquirer

DILLSBORO, Ind. - The owner of a nature center in western Dearborn County is trying to corral six wolves that broke out of their 3-acre pen earlier this week.
The white-colored animals range in age from 2 to 4 years and weigh up to 90 pounds, said Paul Strasser, owner of Red Wolf Sanctuary, 3 miles west of Dillsboro on Indiana 62.
Strasser said he has spent two years replacing wire around the pen at his non-profit center with vinyl-coated chain-link fence - a task he and volunteers just completed. The new 8-foot fence was supposed to be stronger than the older, rusting wire.
Five of the 15 wolves in the pen worked their way through the fence Monday. Two were caught, but 10 were able got out Tuesday, Strasser said.
One of the wolves was struck by a vehicle and is awaiting surgery. Another one - a weaker female - was attacked by other wolves and killed Tuesday when it was returned to the pen, Strasser said. Six wolves remained at large Thursday night.
A dispatcher at the Dearborn County Sheriff's Office said Thursday night the department had heard no complaints.
Strasser and volunteers have been working to repair the pen and track the wolves. Some wolves returned on their own. Strasser said he used tranquilizer darts on others.
Darts aren't always effective, he said, because the drug takes 10 minutes to take effect, and "a wolf can cover an awful lot of distance in 10 minutes."
Strasser said the wolves were bottle fed and raised at the sanctuary from 13 weeks of age for educational purposes. Students tour the center to learn about the animals and their environment.
Strasser said he realizes the wolves being on the loose could cause fear among area residents, but said the animals likely would run if approached.
"The bottom line is, realistically, these animals don't pose any threat," he said.
Strasser said he next plans to install an electric fence around the pen to keep the wolves in.







I would bet that those wolves are some sort of hybred, but know one will know until they test them. Itwill be interesting to find out. The Michigan dnr said that all of the cougar sightings in michigan were false for years, now they claim there could be a small population of them.

Jrbhunter

I would like to know which conservation officer told you these were WILD wolves bristowboy?

Both investigating officerssay they are of the opinion these were tame animals because of the ground toenails (As if raised on concrete). Judging by the photos they appear to be hybrids of some degree- short on true wolf characteristics.

Perhaps you could elaborate, and tell us which officer you spoke too. I'd like to bring it up next time I see him.

As luck would have it, Midwest Predator Hunters just held the Spring Shindig a few miles from this wolf incident over the weekend.

http://midwestpredator.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6041018811/m/3931028482/r/1481038482#1481038482

nodog

I'd bet they already are at least in the n.w..

JoeRE

There are no wild wolves in IA...there is supposed to be a pack stocked by the DNR to keep the deer population down not far from my parents place. Some locals (otherwise reasonable people) swear by it. There are just too many people outdoors year round for it to be true, no pics, no dead wolves, no sightings by anyone else - nothing.

I highly doubt those are wild greys. I would love to know the full story.

bristowboy_20

Sorry. My nephew told me that his friend said the conservation officer said they were wild animals. But the story in the paper says otherwise. What happens if tame animals begin breeding out in the wild? Wouldnt their offspring be considered wild if they havent had human contact? What would happen if they bred a wolf with a pit bull?That would be scary.

Idk, make fun of me all you want about it, but in the end, the only part I got wrong was saying they were wild, because I just dont know. And since they are at least wolf hybrids, then I was right about them being wolves.

I saw one of those animals last month. It was 35 yards away. I live at least 6 miles from where it happened. Maybe they're starting to spread.

Theyre doing blood tests on the canines right now to determine what they are.