Some folks thought it was a wolf hybrid, some thought a wolf. It has been preying on sheep in NE Montana for over a year. It turned out to be a wolf, way out on the Montana plains.
There is no evidence that other wolves are in the area. The wolf was a bit more reddish than most and had no radio collar or tags. It could have been a disperser from the Greater Yellowstone or somewhere else in Montana.
Not all Montana wolves by any means are derived from the Yellowstone Park reintroduction. The Montana wolf recovery began with the migration of wolves down the spine of the Rockies from Alberta and British Columbia in the 1980s. Later their numbers were augmented by dispersal of reintroduced wolves from Idaho and Greater Yellowstone.
There is an outside chance it was an illegally released wolf or even a disperser from Minnesota.
Story in the Billings Gazette. By Mike Stark.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is President of the Western Watersheds Project.
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