A new breed of wolf in the Adirondacks?

The growing scientific consensus looks something like this:

In the 1800s, red wolves — the naturally-occurring species in the Northeastern US — were hunted to extinction.

Habitat was fragmented by farmers and new, sprawling communities.

Coyotes slunk in from the west, interbreeding cheerfully with the surviving red wolf populations.

The hybrids that resulted are clever, adaptable, and seem to co-exist perfectly well with humans.

They also look and act a lot like wolves: They’re big, they hunt deer in packs, and boy do they howl.

(Our farm in Westport is ringed by a forested creek and there are evenings when it feels a little like the Baskervilles around here…)

So what are you seeing out there? And are you satisfied that we have a new, “natural” wolf-like critter completing the food chain?

Or do we still yearn for “pure” wolves of a bygone era?

Tags: adirondacks