Governments are usually not too interested in talking about wolves.  This was apparently the case when in November 2006, a 48.6 kg (107 lb.) male eastern/gray wolf was killed by a trapper outside Ste. Marguerite de Beauce, Quebec, less than twenty miles south of Quebec City.

We just learned about this animal while doing an internet search and finding the attached article.

The article discusses stable isotope analysis of the animal and questions whether it is of captive or wild origin.  The location where it was killed indicates that it likely fed on livestock (dead and alive), pets, and whitetailed deer, all of which likely consumed grain.  The article provided no information regarding where in Canada the wolf may have originated, nor did it provide any other evidence e.g. tattoos, evidence of sterilization, that the animal may have originated from or lived in captivity.

The killing of this wolf was legal in Quebec.  Its pelt has been mounted and is privately owned.

The killing of a 107 lb. eastern gray wolf south and within twenty miles of Quebec City is one more piece of evidence that wolves exist south of the St. Lawrence River and they are attempting to recolonize the northeast U.S. and Atlantic Canada.  We learned about this animal accidentally twelve years after the fact. It’s unfortunate that our governments aren’t more forthcoming and willing to work with us and together to simply allow wolves to return on their own.

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