News dgregg on 05 Mar 2008 11:56 am
First Gray Wolf in Mass. in 160 Years
Here’s an interesting tidbit:
updated
Tuesday, 5:32 PM
From the City & Region staff at The Boston Globe
First wolf found in Mass. in 160 years
Email|Print| Text size – + March 4, 2008 03:03 PM
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff
More than 160 years since hunters drove wolves out of Massachusetts, federal officials have confirmed finding a wild gray wolf in the state.
US Fish and Wildlife Service officials said today that genetic tests performed on an animal killed on a Shelburne farm in October, after it mauled more than a dozen sheep, showed that it was an eastern gray wolf.
“We have no indication that this wolf was ever held in captivity,” said Thomas J. Healy, special agent in charge of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast Region. “But what we don’t know about this wolf’s origins far outweighs what we do know.”
The confirmation is giving wildlife enthusiasts hope that the animal may one day reestablish itself in the forests of the Northeast. Wolves were aggressively hunted by farmers in the early 1800s until virtually none were left. The nearest established populations to New England are in Ontario and Quebec.
While the public often reports sighting wolves, most of those animals turn out to be coyotes or wolf-dog, wolf-coyote mixes, officials say. The last time a purebred wolf that did not live in captivity was found in New England was around 1992 in Maine.
The genetic tests on the 85-pound male were conducted by scientists at the wildlife service’s National Forensic Laboratory in Ashland, Ore. Massachusetts and other wildlife biologists had previously said they doubted the wolf was a purebred.
on 12 Jan 2010 at 3:52 pm 1.Sandy Anderson said …
Maybe a wolf sighting in North Kingstown, R.I. near Stony Ln. as reported by one of our neighbors.
on 22 Jan 2010 at 7:02 am 2.Rachel said …
A friend of mine at work had told me that a neighbor of hers on Rt. 6 in Forster, RI. Had 3 adult male wolves that he had brought home from out west when they were just pups. Recently all three had gotten loose a few months ago. They were not hand fed. But where caged. They are use to human closeness and are not affriad of humans. Also if it wasn’t him it was another person who also lost a few male wolves a year or so before 2009. I have had the oppurtunity to come face to face with two very big canines. To me this so called coyote was a mixed breed. They were not your typical gray or black coyotes. These canines were clearly over 100lbs. Their colors were of a mixture of browns. They were attacking my chickens when I came out of my house screaming and growling at them. At first they ran a few steps then turned around as if to size me up. To see if I was a threat or breakfast. Not giving them a moment to think. I expanded my long black dress making me look bigger & growled even meaner and louder as I charged at them. Luckily for me they both ran away. So, I’m wondering if the wolves maybe breeding with female coytoes or dogs. They truly are a very beautiful animal, but very sceary at their size. That day I spent alerting my neighbors to what I saw. The Burrillville Animal Contol were informored and are currently trying to keep track of their movemets. They also are aware of their larger sizes. They have stated finding aniamls in excess of 120lbs. That to me is more alarming. An animal that size could easially take a woman of my size down. What about children? I raise miniature horses and birds. However 2 years ago I lost hundreds of birds of many different breeds to these preditors. I now only keep a few dozens. I can not afford to feed the preditors my precious pets. Where I live are alot of areas these preditors can live and breed successfully for years before they become too many to number when they become an even bigger problem. I just thought to share this info with you incase you wanted to search or keep an ear out for future stories of wolf sightings. They maybe right! Have a Great Day! & God Bless!
on 06 Apr 2010 at 7:06 pm 3.Nancy said …
Sunday traveling south on rt 146 just north of exit 3, I saw what appears to have been a large grey wolf. it was standing by the side of the road, in a wooded area.
on 19 Jun 2010 at 8:26 pm 4.amber edwards said …
last night i saw a gray wolf in my backyeard in northkingstown ri off rt.4 an rt.1 at 1:50 am
on 12 Jul 2010 at 10:09 pm 5.nick said …
i live in north kingstown rhode island…and i have seen a large wolf like animal several times…it vivsits my brothers dog kennels every night to sniff out the food and his dog…i have seen this animal several times and it is to big to be a coyote..it has a white face much lighter than its body…its tail is very long and bushy and is also a lighter white-ish grey…i know im not crazy this thing is big and is not very scared of people
on 25 Dec 2010 at 1:25 pm 6.Patrick said …
In Octber 2010 my family and I were attending a wedding in Newport,RI and one night when we were returning to the hotel we spotted 2 large grey wolves on the hotel grounds. As soon as they spotted us they ran off into the night. They wer so large and distinct;y grey and white there was no doubt we all agreed they were wolves. I kept thinking about this and was curious about how common these sighting are anad went on to the pc to research. Thats when I came across this artivcle and thought I would share. Amazing that they wolf is actually coming back! Maybe they are preparing for a feast come 12.21.2012!
on 25 Mar 2011 at 9:14 pm 7.David Lewander said …
I live in North Kingstown also and always thought i heard coyotes outside my house on hatchery rd. by shartners farm, until literally 5 minutes ago i drove into my driveway and a huge grey haired dog like animal ran across the street, definitley bigger than the normal eastcoast coyote.
on 17 Apr 2011 at 11:13 pm 8.mike said …
In Warwick while walking my Weimaraner just a 1/2 hour ago on my way back from the Samual Gorton school yard that boarders my neighborhood , I saw a large gray wild looking k – 9 which I thought was a coyote at first before I realised how large it was . Definitely larger than my 80 lb. dog . The tail was very large and bushy like pictures my wife showed me of gray wolves on the internet just a moment ago. No other details were discernable . Sunday night April 17, 2011
on 30 Jun 2011 at 5:14 pm 9.Cookie said …
Last week I spotted what appeared to be wolf in my front yard in East Greenwich, west of route 2.
on 11 Jul 2011 at 9:57 am 10.dgregg said …
Eastern coyotes are common and widespread in Rhode Island. These coyotes are much larger than their western counterparts and throughout the northeast range to 50 lbs or more. They also have longer legs and proportions than dogs so they look much larger than a dog of the same weight. Their coat colors vary quite a bit, including a gray or brindled gray. For a lot of great photos and other info on coyotes in Rhode Island, visit the Narragansett Bay Coyote Project website.
on 10 Aug 2011 at 12:52 am 11.matt said …
I live in warwick and i was hearing a wolf call all night in my backyard( backyard is all woods) i youtubed a wolf call at that exit time and it was the exact noise i was hearing it was going all night. It even woke my mom up and i also showed her the nose and she said it was definately a wolf call. About a week later i was driving on 95 in west warwick and i saw a large animal dart across the road, looked like a dog on steroids.
on 07 Nov 2011 at 2:18 pm 12.john said …
I agree that a lot of the sightings are coyhybirds and people think they are wolves but to rule out some of them being gray’s isn’t not an option. We’ve seen more and more black bear here, fisher cats, bald eagles why not the wolf? I’m sure people were told they were crazy when the coyote poulation started coming this way and people were seeing them. I hike and hunt and also work nights so I’ve seen my share of coyotes and only 2 times in my life I questioned their size. I once saw 2 coy’s in the Oankland beach area and one of them was in the 60-80 lbs range. Then recently mid day I saw one along rt 95 in the Rt 117 area that was standing in a field and was in the 70-90 lb range (big dogs). I have also recently come across some dog tracks out hunting that were 6-7inch front to back and 4 – 41/2 inch wide. Now I’m thinking if it was someones dog it had to be a great dane or mastiff but there were no human tracks near them.
on 13 Jan 2012 at 8:37 pm 13.David said …
There was a reason our ancestors killed them off. They are eating machines. They really don’t care what they eat, they just eat.
We CAN NOT count on our DEM to give us HONEST answers, PRIME EXAMPLE: The standard answer we got throughout the early 80′s about Black Bears in RI..
” There are NO Bears in RI.” They now produce a pamphlet titled “Living with Bears in RI.”
We actually had a Ram and two sheep killed here in SK last fall. It was clearly a bear by the tracks, not to mention the three other sitings, one of wHich was in my dogs food bowl before I had brought it in. WHAT WILL THEY SAY WHEN A WOLF GRABS ONE OF OUR KIDS ON THEIR WAY TO THE BUS???
It was a bunny rabbit ?
on 16 Jan 2012 at 4:07 pm 14.Jesse said …
I find this quite interesting.Many of my friends won’t, or refuse, to believe it, because R.I has no wolves.However it is quite possible.I am moving to North Kingstown and i must say when i read this- i was quite shocked, and excited.(I must admit i have a fetish for wolves)I’ll keep a look out for these sightings because i enjoy hiking and taking random walks in woods, and i major in Astrology so i am out at nights.
on 26 Jan 2012 at 4:35 pm 15.Richard Hutchings said …
I saw what I beleive to be a wolf this morning on River Vue Ave in warwick. Looked to be about as big as my Golden which is 87 lbs. From what I’ve read, coyotes weigh between 25 and 50.