I was very much struck when researching my book Armed America how much energy Colonial and State governments put into exterminating species such as the wolf--often with enormous bounties to incentivize Americans to go out and hunt them down. I found this March 5, 2008 Fox News report a reminder that much of America is still wild enough for these creatures to return to their ancestral ranges:
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — When more than a dozen lambs and sheep were slaughtered on a Shelburne farm last fall, wildlife officials suspected either a wolf that had escaped from captivity or a rogue mutt on a hungry rampage.
But after the culprit animal was killed and examined, they found themselves with a bigger mystery: How did a wild eastern gray wolf, an endangered species absent from the state for more than a century, find its way to western Massachusetts?
Thomas J. Healy, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast regional office, said Tuesday recent DNA tests at the agency's Oregon labs confirmed it is the first gray wolf found in New England since a 1993 case in upstate Maine.
No comments:
Post a Comment