The Arizona Republic confirmed two days ago that the gray wolf shot and killed in Utah on December 28 was the wolf first seen in October near the Grand Canyon. She was identified through DNA testing.
School children in Arizona had named her Echo; she was the first gray wolf seen in Arizona in more than 70 years.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service had designated her “914F” when she was collared near Cody, Wyoming, on Jan. 8, 2014. She traveled some 450 miles between then and her first appearance in Arizona in October.
Echo was killed in the Tushar Mountains outside of Beaver, Utah, about 200 miles north of the Grand Canyon. The hunter claimed he mistook the protected 3-year-old animal for a coyote. The incident is still under investigation.
Three years in jail for killing a 3-year-old wolf … works for me.
Previously on PIed Type:
Could not click like. Too sad. Such a loss and reckless waste. Will be nearly impossible to convict if no witness testimony. My heart is broken all over again… had to hope it wasn’t her. Thanks for breaking the sad news. Somehow it helps to share the loss here.
The confirmation is as painful as the original report. I need to leave this keyboard and do something else for a while … can’t see anyway
Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn…
She was just one wolf. One lonely wolf hoping to find others. But I guess it was asking too much of the jerks of the world to leave her alone.
I clicked “Like” because I so admire your compassion my friend. The ongoing story itself is too sad for words…
It doesn’t require much compassion to love and respect beauty and wildness. But evidently even a tiny bit was too much for this hunter to muster. In fact, he must have either greed, in thinking he’d get a bounty for killing a coyote, or hate for killing a wolf just for being a wolf.