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| credit: USF&W |
Man is a notorious and wanton killer, a fact known not only to members of his own species, but to other sentient inhabitants of Earth. Offered for your consideration is the story of an unnamed female grey wolf whose life ended in agony last April on a rural county road in Colorado. The wolf, just entering her breeding prime at two years old, was a traveler of epic proportions. She had been captured and collared by researchers in Montana. But she left her home in September, 2008 to travel an estimated 3,000 miles between four states, probably in an effort to find a mate and establish her own pack as an alpha female
[map]. Young wolves often disperse and roam long distances, so biologists analyzing her collar data think she did not encounter likely mates during her travels. She did find prey to eat during her search for a new home, including a few sheep.
What else she found killer her. A toxicology report from the USF&W Forensic Laboratory showed she ingested Compound 1080
{8.11.09, Poisoning the Land} in Rio Blanco County. The poison is banned because it is an indiscriminate killer of wildlife. It was commonly used in the United States for controlling rodents and livestock predators prior to 1972. It is still used in some states in highly controlled situations to kill predators such as coyotes and foxes. In Colorado it is illegal. Wolves, despite man's hatred, are federally protected animals under the Endangered Species Act. Penalties for illegally killing a protected species are as high as a $100,000 fine and a year in jail. If you know of someone spreading Compound 1080 call your local wildlife officials or the US Fish & Wildlife Service and ask them to investigate its use.