North of Trenton in Grundy County
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A wild timber wolf — a member of a species long ago considered extinct in Missouri — was killed Tuesday evening, Oct. 23, in a rural area of Grundy County, north of Trenton. An archery hunter, who prefers to remain anonymous, returning home from his deer stand saw what he considered to be a “big coyote looking into his sheep lot.” With the dog-like animal looking away and standing in a ditch, the landowner let fly with the fatal shot.
Upon examination, the archer realized the mistaken identity and immediately contacted Grundy County Conservation Agent Jeff Berti. The large carnivore, also called “gray wolf,” was marked with a red radio collar and ear tag identified as MICH 0018. Field examination revealed the dead wolf to be a young male weighing 81 pounds.
Ear tag data revealed that the wolf had been tagged by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in the summer 1999 in the Upper Peninsula. At tagging, the pup weighed 22 pounds. It was last contacted from radio signals during April 2000 near Mercer, Wis., a location just south of the Michigan U.P. and Wisconsin borders.
Considered to be gone from Missouri by 1900, the timber wolf is a Federally listed Endangered Species in the continental United States. The wolf is sparsely populated only in northern Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and select remote areas of the Mountain-West in the lower 48 states, several hundred miles away from Grundy County, Mo.
Missouri Conservation biologists are currently working with their counterparts in Michigan, attempting to explain the vagabond travels of a prized species long ago considered to be a part of Missouri’s native wildlife.
Due to the unusual circumstances of mistaken identity and protection of property, as well as immediate notification to wildlife authorities, there will be no prosecution.
For more information contact: Rod Green, Regional Supervisor, Outreach and Education Division, 816-271-3100. Tim Ripperger, Regional Supervisor, Protection Division, 816-271-3100. Jeff Berti, Conservation Agent, Grundy County, 660-359-6288