China Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 First wolf found in Mass. in 160 years 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. Click on the link for the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GibbsFactor Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Humans, got to love em. :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brave Little Toaster Oven Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Sorta like when the California Condor, which was on the verge of extinction, was released from captivity and shot two weeks later :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinInsite Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 That'll show them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_cavalierman Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Stay Classy Mass:thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enter Apotheosis Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 People are brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpillian Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Damn farmers wanting to keep their livestock alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 It's global warming I tell ya! Soon enough we'll have polar bears in Mass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ted Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Damn farmers wanting to keep their livestock alive. :laugh::laugh: i was about to say the same thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMike619 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Damn farmers wanting to keep their livestock alive. Seriously!! This thing had a taste for blood. No matter where you put it the thing was going to kill again. Sorry pet lovers of this board but its a fact. Kill the beast so that the farmer can keep his livestock and livelihood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Seriously!!This thing had a taste for blood. No matter where you put it the thing was going to kill again. Sorry pet lovers of this board but its a fact. Kill the beast so that the farmer can keep his livestock and livelihood. Yeah the farmer has to be able to sustain his livestock, BUT it is a wolf so what do you expect it to do? You gotta eat somehow. There is nothing wrong with it killing and eating his animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumrunner6900 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 mmmm....gray wolf! :hungry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSkins561 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Yeah the farmer has to be able to sustain his livestock, BUT it is a wolf so what do you expect it to do? You gotta eat somehow. There is nothing wrong with it killing and eating his animals. Tell that to the farmer that pays for those animals on his land, that is worth possibly millions of dollars. I love hunting however I am highly against bear hunting in Maryland unless the bears are damaging crops, which is sometimes the case. One of my favorite things to do when I went to Frostburg was to watch the bears raid a small butchers trash can in the middle of no where. When I say middle of no where, I mean horse and buggie country. Great stuff, those same bears that I loved to watch, would also wreck peoples livlihood, in that case it is okay to kill them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophet Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I have to side with the farmer on this one. :2cents: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMike619 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Yeah the farmer has to be able to sustain his livestock, BUT it is a wolf so what do you expect it to do? You gotta eat somehow. There is nothing wrong with it killing and eating his animals. Im not saying that they should go hunting wolfs now in Mass. But that wolf KNEW where his sheep were and kept going back which is why he got 12 of them. He wasnt going to stop with a simple swat on the butt with a rolled up newspaper and the odds of you catching it before it killed again wasnt going to be that high. it was best that they killed it and ended it before one of their children or grandchildren ended up dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyDave Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I'd shot the Gray Wolf too. He had an all you can eat leg of lamb and lamb chop meal and didn't pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rincewind Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 That tiger went tiger... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticksboi05 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Im not saying that they should go hunting wolfs now in Mass. But that wolf KNEW where his sheep were and kept going back which is why he got 12 of them. He wasnt going to stop with a simple swat on the butt with a rolled up newspaper and the odds of you catching it before it killed again wasnt going to be that high.it was best that they killed it and ended it before one of their children or grandchildren ended up dead. No no. My post was a bit unclear. I agree it had to be dealt with and see no problem is killing it. What I am saying is it is a wild carnivore so it did what it had to do and you can't blame the wolf for wanting to stay alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSkins561 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 No no. My post was a bit unclear. I agree it had to be dealt with and see no problem is killing it. What I am saying is it is a wild carnivore so it did what it had to do and you can't blame the wolf for wanting to stay alive. No doubt about it, it is a damn shame the wolf didn't find a different source of food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMike619 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 No no. My post was a bit unclear. I agree it had to be dealt with and see no problem is killing it. What I am saying is it is a wild carnivore so it did what it had to do and you can't blame the wolf for wanting to stay alive. oh heck ya then. shoot this needs to be a lesson to farmers in Mass to tighten up fences and "wolf proof" your farms. if there is such a thing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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