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After 100 years, wolf confirmed in Illinois
BY JEFF LAMPE
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
HENRY - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ended seven months of speculation Thursday by confirming a canine killed last winter in Marshall County was a gray wolf.
It is believed to be the first confirmation of a wild wolf in Illinois since the early 1900s, though records on the matter are incomplete.
What's no longer in doubt is the origin of the 92-pound wolf Randy Worker shot while hunting west of Henry on Dec. 29.
"The DNA exam confirms the wolf originated from the Great Lakes pack, either in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan," said Tim Santel, a special agent for the Fish and Wildlife Service. "We can say from the morphological and genetic characteristics it had to be from one of those populations."
Agents delayed releasing test results pending completion of an investigation.
Gray wolves - also known as timber wolves - have slowly increased in numbers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan since being listed as a federally endangered species in 1974. And though wolves were downgraded to threatened this spring, they still are protected under federal law.
As a result, individuals who kill a wolf can face criminal charges of up to $250,000 and five years in prison.
Worker's case is unique because wolves were not believed present in Illinois.
"At this time, there haven't been any charges filed," Santel said.
That's a relief for Worker, a Henry resident who thought he was shooting at a coyote.
"I couldn't tell the difference when I looked at it through my field glasses or through my rifle scope," he said.
Worker, now known as "Wolfman" to friends and associates, said he's glad to finally have a definitive answer for the many inquiries he fields daily.
"I had two farmers ask me about it this morning," said Worker, who drives a truck for Gill Grain Co. "Now I can tell them it was a wolf."
Actually, it is the third Great Lakes wolf to wander well south of its home range in the past two years. All three may have spent time in Illinois.
In 2001 a wolf that had been fitted with a radio collar in
Michigan was shot in northeastern Missouri. On June 23, biologists found a wolf in east- central Indiana that had been born in Wisconsin and traveled more than 400 miles before it was killed, apparently by an automobile.
Biologists believe those wolves dispersed from their packs after reaching adulthood.
"Dispersal can happen any time but is most common in the fall or winter prior to the February breeding season," said Adrian Wydeven, a wolf specialist for Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources.
Recognizing the increased possibility of wolves migrating south, state and federal agencies are planning to start educational programs for hunters.
"There's going to be a push by the Service and the DNRs for Indiana, Illinois and possibly Missouri to do a proactive approach in educating the hunters to be more cognizant of what're shooting at," Santel said. "Hopefully by educating them we won't have to worry about investigating them."
Experts also stress there's no need for panic.
"There has never been a documented case of a healthy, wild wolf killing a person in North America," said Jen Westlund, program director for the Minnesota-based International Wolf Center. "There have been people killed by captive animals and there were two cases in (Canada's) Algonquin Provincial Park where campers were bitten by wolves."
Westlund said in both those cases the wolves were accustomed to receiving food from humans and had lost their instinctive fear of man.
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/03/07/25/c.asp
BY JEFF LAMPE
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
HENRY - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ended seven months of speculation Thursday by confirming a canine killed last winter in Marshall County was a gray wolf.
It is believed to be the first confirmation of a wild wolf in Illinois since the early 1900s, though records on the matter are incomplete.
What's no longer in doubt is the origin of the 92-pound wolf Randy Worker shot while hunting west of Henry on Dec. 29.
"The DNA exam confirms the wolf originated from the Great Lakes pack, either in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan," said Tim Santel, a special agent for the Fish and Wildlife Service. "We can say from the morphological and genetic characteristics it had to be from one of those populations."
Agents delayed releasing test results pending completion of an investigation.
Gray wolves - also known as timber wolves - have slowly increased in numbers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan since being listed as a federally endangered species in 1974. And though wolves were downgraded to threatened this spring, they still are protected under federal law.
As a result, individuals who kill a wolf can face criminal charges of up to $250,000 and five years in prison.
Worker's case is unique because wolves were not believed present in Illinois.
"At this time, there haven't been any charges filed," Santel said.
That's a relief for Worker, a Henry resident who thought he was shooting at a coyote.
"I couldn't tell the difference when I looked at it through my field glasses or through my rifle scope," he said.
Worker, now known as "Wolfman" to friends and associates, said he's glad to finally have a definitive answer for the many inquiries he fields daily.
"I had two farmers ask me about it this morning," said Worker, who drives a truck for Gill Grain Co. "Now I can tell them it was a wolf."
Actually, it is the third Great Lakes wolf to wander well south of its home range in the past two years. All three may have spent time in Illinois.
In 2001 a wolf that had been fitted with a radio collar in
Michigan was shot in northeastern Missouri. On June 23, biologists found a wolf in east- central Indiana that had been born in Wisconsin and traveled more than 400 miles before it was killed, apparently by an automobile.
Biologists believe those wolves dispersed from their packs after reaching adulthood.
"Dispersal can happen any time but is most common in the fall or winter prior to the February breeding season," said Adrian Wydeven, a wolf specialist for Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources.
Recognizing the increased possibility of wolves migrating south, state and federal agencies are planning to start educational programs for hunters.
"There's going to be a push by the Service and the DNRs for Indiana, Illinois and possibly Missouri to do a proactive approach in educating the hunters to be more cognizant of what're shooting at," Santel said. "Hopefully by educating them we won't have to worry about investigating them."
Experts also stress there's no need for panic.
"There has never been a documented case of a healthy, wild wolf killing a person in North America," said Jen Westlund, program director for the Minnesota-based International Wolf Center. "There have been people killed by captive animals and there were two cases in (Canada's) Algonquin Provincial Park where campers were bitten by wolves."
Westlund said in both those cases the wolves were accustomed to receiving food from humans and had lost their instinctive fear of man.
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/03/07/25/c.asp
