Adirondack Wolves

ADIRONDACK WOLVES

Story by the Associated Press

Reuben Cary was shown in a 1893 photo with a stuffed wolf, believed to be the last Adirondack wolf, which he trapped and killed near Brandreth Lake, N.Y., in November 1893. Recent tissue analysis of a 2002 wolf killing in the southern Adirondacks has touched off a new round of debate on whether to bring the grey wolf back to New York.

Weaver said. “In consultation with the U.S. attorney's office, we decided that seizure and abandonment of the wolf pelt was the most appropriate course of action.”

Wolves now inhabit parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and the Algonquin Park in southeastern Ontario, Canada. Individual, “dispersers” have been known to travel hundreds of miles.

Federal wildlife officials didn't think there were any gray wolves in northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, though they contain suitable habitat, Weaver said. But lab tests showed wolves killed since 1993 in Maine and Quebec and wolf-coyote hybrids in Maine and Vermont.

Lawrence was hunting at the southeastern edge of the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, on private land about 40 miles north of Albany. He was 200 miles from the Algonquin Park and more than 400 miles from Michigan.

The 48-year-old roofer has hunted coyotes for about 10 years, selling the furs in Canada. State officials assured him there were no wolves in the Adirondacks and the animal he killed was a hybrid.

“If it is a wolf, I'm sorry I shot it and everything like, that,” he said. He's still waiting to see documented proof.

A 1999 study by the Conservation Biology Institute concluded New York had suitable habitat for sustaining “a small population of gray wolves,” but that “significant human intervention” would be needed for their long-term survival.

A Cornell University survey published in 2002 showed Adirondack residents almost evenly split over reintroduction.

The state has taken the position that wolves might be incompatible with the interests of residents and nearby farmers. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says it has no plans to reintroduce wolves in the Northeast and would first need backing from the states.

Advocates like Defenders of Wildlife say wolves are good for the Adirondack ecosystem, more effective predators that will move deer around a territory, benefiting many plant species and consequently some smaller animals, said spokesman Brad Devries.

Mammals curator Roland Kays has the skeleton of the Edinburg wolf in his research collection at the State Museum in Albany. From its teeth, he couldn't determine if it was wild or captive.

Scientists say it's possible the wolf came down from Canada, though intense hunting and trapping outside the Algonquin Park make that trip treacherous.

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THE SUNDAY LEADER-HERALD, MAY 23, 2004

Adirondack wolf spawns many theories

EDINBURG (AP) - The night Russ Lawrence shot dead the first confirmed Adirondack wolf in a century, the big canine wasn't alone. It came for the hunter's bait, on a winter night, with another animal.

“It wasn't as big, but it was a pretty good size,” Lawrence said. “That's why I figured it was a female.”

Lawrence also figured he'd killed a record-sized coyote that January night in 2002, and he contacted state conservation officials. It was a healthy 85-pound male, more than twice the average coyote size, but with the same features and color as its common relative.

Two years later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took tissue for genetic analysis and concluded it was pure gray wolf. That quickly raised questions: Had a loner wan-

dered down from the upper Midwest or Canada? Did humans release it? Was the lab report inaccurate?

And the big one: Had timber wolves already come back?

Wildlife biologists and advocates agree they haven't, that populations would be noticed, like in the West and upper Midwest. Wolves tend to live in small packs, move around, vocalize frequently and hunt.

But the kill has touched off a new round of debate over whether to bring the wolf back to New York.

A century after the last known New York wolf was killed in the 1890s, wildlife advocates ignited a major controversy when they proposed reintroducing them to the Adirondacks. The proposal stalled, and scientists say New York remains coyote country.

“If they're filling essentially the same niche, does it make a difference whether we call it a coyote or a wolf?” said Al Hicks, wildlife biologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. “I guess it's whatever makes you feel better.”

Feared as threats to livestock and people, wolves were hunted nearly to extinction by the 1930s in the continental United States.

Last August, after their cultivated resurgence in the West and Midwest, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service moved the gray wolf from endangered to threatened after 30 years.

There are now almost 4,000 gray wolves and about 250 red wolves in the lower 48 states. Alaska, where hunting continues, has an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 gray wolves.

Killing them still can bring a fine up to $100,000 per individual, $200,000 per organization, plus forfeit of the animal and even hunting equipment.

Lawrence won't be prosecuted, said Diana Weaver, spokeswoman for the wildlife service.

“At times the goal of enforcement is not so much punishment but education and compliance,”

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Reintroducing the Adirondack Wolf would be a milestone in my lifetime. I began hiking and exploring the Northeastern US 15 years ago. At this point I've hiked most sections of NY, Vermont, NH and Maine. I'm always saddened

by the amount of destruction I see and how far off the beaten path you need to go to find remnants of nature the way it was meant to be. I support the Wolf and hope to tell my children about the success of mankind restoring what

they quickly destroyed before people in the US were educated.

Best regards,

CRAIG

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HI! I am hoping you can help me with this question? I live in the AP just a bit outside of Caroga Lake NY. This morning I let my female dog out, a few minutes later she was at the edge of the dam bank barking profusely. I looked out and saw what I thought to be a Timber wolf. He was much too big to be a coyote or coy dog as I have seen the two here before. The one I saw this morning was large with a bushy tail that hung down, it appeared to be black maybe due to the wet weather. He had the exact same features as a Timber wolf. He wasn't too intimidated by my presence when I went off the deck to retrieve my dog, he just slowly walked away after a brief starring match with me. So with that, do you know whether or not there has been any recent release into the Adirondack Park? How concerned should I be with them coming so close and having a domesticated pet?

Thank You!

SCOTT

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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOUR OLD TIME TALES OF THE WOLF OR SOME INTERESTING FACTS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL THEM TO gobacktothebasics@frontiernet.net AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO INCLUDED THEM ON THE PAGE.