Eastern Grey Wolves in New England

The wolverine thread reminded me of this recent news article.

News ? It was a wolf: Animal killed on Shelburne sheep farm was wild gray wolf from the The Greenfield Recorder

Or was it environmentalists placing evidence of animals again to get land closed.

Like the time they planted eveidence of wolves out west in a test area..............and got caught doing so. Of course................... nothing happened to them.

Big Bad
I don't know how to respond to that.
Did you even read the article?

dudley -

Thanks for posting the link. Very interesting article, with some rather humorous comments by the Massachusetts "wildlife" folks. The apparently random killing of a large number of sheep is a rather common tale about canines, domestic or wild.

The wolf thing does stir up a lot of different feelings in folks. It is a complex issue, except for those on the extremes who are dedicated to destroying all wild things or to protecting all wild things regardless of the consequences.

My wife and I spotted a pair of gray wolves a few years ago while hiking in what would be considered the west side of the Yellowstone ecosystem. They were beautiful animals. Not at all timid, but also not at all intimidating. We had the good fortune to watch them with binoculars for the best part of ten minutes. A real treat.

I personally would prefer that wolves be left alone, that they not be hunted, and that they not be destroyed over an isolated incident of destroying domesticated animals, as long as there is someone willing to compensate the owner of the destroyed animal. But having discussed this with local wildlife folks who have reason to deal with the issue rather regularly, I recognize there are valid arguments for controlled hunts in some areas and / or destruction of predators that have repeatedly killed livestock.

John

p. s. "Of Wolves and Men" by Barry Lopez is a great read.

The web site that I first saw this on had a lot of posts from people who "loved" wolves. I don't know that my feelings run that strong.
I think it's great that the large predators have come back to New England.
In general, state wildlife people dismiss the idea that the northeast forests harbor eastern cougars and gray wolves, but I believe they just want to keep things quiet for the protection of the animals
This wolf was killed legally and it appears it was a menace to local farmers. I don't see anything wrong with that.
I hope his brothers fair better