First Wolf Killed In New Brunswick In More Than A Century – Maine Wolf Coalition Renews Its Call For A Bi-National Recovery Plan

DATE: MAY 9, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIRST WOLF KILLED IN NEW BRUNSWICK IN MORE THAN A CENTURY
MAINE WOLF COALITION RENEWS ITS CALL FOR A BI-NATIONAL RECOVERY PLAN

In April of this year, a coyote hunter on New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula shot and killed an 86 pound canid that DNA testing determined to be a wolf.  It is believed to be the first wolf killed in New Brunswick since the 19th century.

This follows a wolf killed in Newfoundland in March of this year and it is at least the ninth wolf known to have been killed in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada in an area from Massachusetts north to Newfoundland.  It is yet more evidence that wolves are attempting to recolonize parts of eastern North America where they were extirpated a century or more ago.  The New Brunswick wolf was determined to be a gray/eastern wolf hybrid.  Gray wolves are typically found in more northerly regions of Canada while the smaller eastern wolves are found in a band across southern Ontario and Quebec.  Gray/eastern hybrids do occur in southern and central Canada and are most likely the “new” wolves that are recolonizing eastern North America south of the St. Lawrence River.  Wolves can travel hundreds of miles during dispersal from their pack and in the winter months, the frozen St. Lawrence River upriver from Montreal serves as a possible conduit for wolf dispersal.

The killing of the New Brunswick wolf has prompted The Maine Wolf Coalition to renew calls for a Bi-National Recovery Plan for wolves in this region.  In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent, the coalition states, “Some time ago our organization requested that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service work with Canada on a Bi-National Recovery Plan for this wolf.  With the recent documentation of wolves in New Brunswick and Newfoundland, we believe such a plan is needed more than ever.  We again ask the U.S. and Canada to work together to promote the natural recolonization of this animal.  It is in the best interest not only of our environment, but of our economy.”

The Maine Wolf Coalition, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation dedicated to wolf recovery in Maine through research, education and protection.  For more information, please contact John Glowa at (207) 445-2360 or at jglowa@roadrunner.com.

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