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Another Gray Wolf Confirmed in Lower Peninsula 

Picture
​Fall 2015
 
The Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians recently received confirmation from Trent University in Ontario, that scat submitted by the tribe for DNA analysis in 2014 was from a male gray wolf. Genetic testing also indicated that the wolf was not likely an escaped captive since it closely matched genetic information from northeast Ontario wolves.
 
In March 2014, tribal biologists discovered tracks in Emmet County of two separate animals and collected scat. Although the tribe showed the tracks to Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) biologists and both the tribe and the state agency found other tracks and examined trail camera photos of a wolf-like animal, the evidence was not considered conclusive until the DNA tests were completed. In both Emmet and Cheboygan Counties during this past winter, MDNR staff investigated potential wolf tracks. Scat or hair was not found, so a genetic confirmation was not possible.
 
In 2010, animals (including pups) with the size and appearance of wolves were trapped and collared in Cheboygan County. However, DNA analyses suggested that the animals should be classed as coyotes and were the result of wolf-coyote mating back several generations. The MDNR’s position is that it has not been confirmed a breeding wolf population in the Lower Peninsula and that the wolf recently verified by the Trent University analysis is just the second confirmation of wolf south of the Mackinaw Bridge since 1910.
 
The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians previously searched for wolf signs in Emmet County following the discovery of potential tracks in 2002 and 2003. In December 2014, a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling again placed gray wolves in Michigan on the federal list of endangered species. Gray wolves remain protected by federal law and states have limited management options. 

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