Gray wolf killed in southern Michigan; DNR investigating how it got there

A gray wolf was killed in a January coyote hunt in Calhoun County, potentially the first time one has been identified in Michigan's southern Lower Peninsula since the species was wiped out from the state in the early 20th century, Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials said Wednesday.

The DNR is investigating how the animal came to be in the county.

"It's possible it naturally got there, but it's also obviously possible it had some help getting there," said Brian Roell, a large carnivore specialist for the DNR. "Those are things we want to understand better. We want to know when it was actually harvested, where it was harvested, so (the department) will be doing interviews about those kinds of things."

Wolves in Michigan are a federally endangered species, meaning they can be killed only if they pose a direct and immediate threat to human life.

The Michigan hunter who killed the wolf reported harvesting "a large animal," the DNR said in a Tuesday press release. Genetic tests confirmed the animal was a gray wolf.

The hunter was participating in a legal coyote hunt and was accompanied by a guide. He said he believed the animal to be a large coyote, according to state officials. The wolf weighed 84 pounds, while Eastern coyotes typically weigh between 25-40 pounds, the DNR said.

The state's known wolf population is located in the Upper Peninsula, although there have been a few sightings or tracks seen in the northern Lower Peninsula since 2004. The department surveyed the northern Lower Peninsula for gray wolves in 2019 and found no evidence of them. It will conduct another survey in 2025.

Roell said the DNR does not believe there is an established wolf population in the southern Lower Peninsula.

"This is an unusual case," he said. "While rare, instances of wolves traversing vast distances have been documented, including signs of wolves in recent decades in Michigan's Lower Peninsula."

Shawn Riley, a Michigan State University professor emeritus of fisheries and wildlife, said he would not be surprised to learn a lone wolf had traveled to the Lower Peninsula.

Wolves and other large carnivores are "notorious, as individuals, for moving long distances," Riley said.

A solo wolf will go where there is agreeable habitat, remote stretches and large prey such as deer, but they don't settle down unless they find a mate or another of their species.

"They don't have a map," Riley said. "They're just following their senses, so they can end up in all kinds of situations."

Although gray wolves could live in the Lower Peninsula, particularly in the remote areas of the northern Lower Peninsula, Riley said it's unlikely they are in southern Michigan in any great numbers. The wolf harvested in January likely was roaming solo.

"It's really difficult to think, for me, that it's part of a larger group without being detected," he said. "There are so many people out on the landscape, and wolves are conspicuous enough by way of leaving tracks and having a presence."

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