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A seasoned Michigan hunter is facing a criminal investigation for shooting dead a rare gray wolf which he mistook for a ‘monster coyote’.
The shocking mix-up came to light after the unnamed man shared images of his ginormous kill in a celebratory Facebook post on January 20.
‘I’ve shot hundreds of coyotes but nothing even remotely close to this,’ he wrote. ‘Absolutely huge 84LB coyote that we shot tonight in southern Michigan’.
But wildlife officials have found through DNA testing that the humongous ‘coyote’ was in fact a rare gray wolf, which is a protected species.
The species has not been seen in southern Michigan for more than a century, and the man is now facing a criminal investigation.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said the animal was killed when the hunter was taking part in a legal coyote hunting accompanied by a guide.
Coyotes are less than half the size of gray wolves – weighing just 25 pounds (11 kilograms) to 40 pounds (18 kilograms) on average, per the DNR.
The hunter deleted his Facebook post about the killing, but an anonymized screenshot was re-posted by a friend.
Images show the 6 foot 2 inch-tall hunter holding up the dead canine, which completely dwarfs him by comparison.
‘Guy that shot it is one of my buddies, I crossed out his name because he got so many hate messages over it,’ the friend who shared the photos wrote.
He revealed that the wolf was shot in Marshall in Calhoun County – the southern reaches of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
The DNR said earlier this month that they had finished DNA testing on the animal and concluded it was a rare gray wolf.
‘A series of genetic tests on the harvested animal confirmed that it was a gray wolf, a species not sighted in that part of Michigan since the likely extirpation of wolves from the state in the early part of the 20th century,’ the agency said.
The DNR added that gray wolves are ‘almost exclusively’ found in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Rare instances of wolves being present in the state’s Lower Peninsula in the past two involve spottings in its northern areas, the agency added.
‘This is an unusual case, and the DNR is actively delving into the matter to learn more about this particular animal’s origin,’ Brian Roell, a DNR wildlife biologist who’s a large carnivore specialist, said in a news release.
‘While rare, instances of wolves traversing vast distances have been documented, including signs of wolves in recent decades in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.’
Roell said Friday that the DNR learned about the animal from the social media posts in January, and they were certain from the pictures alone that it was a wolf.
The agency obtained samples from the animal from a taxidermist soon afterward to confirm this.
Gray wolves are a protected species under the Endangered Species Act and they can be killed ‘only if they are a direct and immediate threat to human life,’ Michigan’s DNR said.
Roell said the question of how the wolf ended up in southern Michigan remains under investigation by the DNR.
He said he harbors ‘some doubt’ that it ended up there naturally, noting that the area of Michigan where the animal was shot does not have habitat suitable for sustaining gray wolves.
‘If this animal did indeed get naturally to Calhoun County it was likely just drifting, looking for others of its own kind,’ he said.
This article by Laura Parnaby was first published by The Daily Mail on 12 April 2024. Lead Image: Coyotes are less than half the size of gray wolves – weighing just 25 pounds (11 kilograms) to 40 pounds (18 kilograms) on average, per the DNR. (Pictured: A coyote).
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