Are there wolves in utah

Utah appears to use these two states as guides in determining their own stance on wolves; the agency said it is actively investigating the incident to determine what to do next in response to livestock loss, as well as trapping the wolf. Under state law, anytime a predator takes livestock it is trapped and killed. Despite these cruel policies and the danger to wolves in bordering states, a few intrepid wanderers have made the journey into Utah in recent years.

This new wolf joins:. A female gray wolf In November of , a private trapper discovered an pound female wolf dead in a neck snare he set in northern Utah. Under the U. Her name was Echo. On Nov. Echo was illegally shot and killed in Utah a month later on December 28th. Following the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, a handful migrated south. This included Echo, a female seen by visitors on the north rim of the Grand Canyon in and named by schoolchildren. Supposedly mistaken for a coyote, she was shot later that year in western Utah after state officials took no steps to notify residents that the wolf was present and federally protected.

Another female was killed the following year in a strangulation snare in northeastern Utah. Wolves remain protected throughout the rest of Utah.

Had the wolf been spotted elsewhere in Utah, however, the situation would have been handled differently. The gray wolf is protected under the Endangered Species Act in much of Utah, but there is an exception in the northwestern part of the state north of Interstate 80 and east of Interstate 84, including Rich County.

Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for removing wolves where they are protected under federal law. We call on Utah officials to pull the traps and seek coexistence instead. The federal Wildlife Services program was established in the late s, and has trapped thousands of wolves.

Fifteen to 20 individual wolves have been seen in Utah over the past 15 years, according to DWR. Almost all of those have been in counties near Wyoming, Idaho or Colorado.

There is no evidence of breeding activity within Utah. Robinson pointed to a study in Grand Teton National Park that showed pronghorn antelope populations increased after wolves were reintroduced, likely because they pushed out coyote populations that were killing pronghorn fawns and changed the patterns of predator-prey interactions. He also noted that elk populations in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho have increased since wolves were reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains in the s.