[...] Howell said, the entire Northeast has been screaming for a predator like the gray wolf to control the overabundance of white-tailed deer.Such a predator could have a huge impact on the ecosystem, down to the level of things like insects, she said.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recovered the Massachusetts wolf in October after a farmer in the town of Shelburne killed it.
The service identified the animal as a gray wolf only after DNA testing showed it was not a dog, a coyote or a dog-wolf hybrid.
Howell said both Maine and the Adirondacks have long been considered prime wolf territory, and there have been anecdotal sightings of wolves in the region in the past.
What has surprised wildlife experts is that to get from the Canadian border to Massachusetts, a wolf would need to cross the St. Lawrence River as well as land, staying largely undiscovered.
A wolf that crossed the St. Lawrence could wander through Vermont into Massachusetts without crossing the paths of many humans.May said if wolves do establish themselves in Maine or New York, it would be more likely one could wander from there to Connecticut.May said wildlife biologists are learning many animals in the Northeast -- while still wary of humans -- have learned they can coexist with them.
Israel Putnam and Connecticut's last wolf"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" is the line commonly credited to Israel Putnam at the Battle of Bunker Hill.But legend also has it that the Revolutionary War general killed Connecticut's last wolf in 1742 -- also by the light of its shining eyes.The legend is that in 1742, when Putnam lived in eastern Connecticut, a she-wolf was killing sheep, including those owned by Putnam.
