Protected gray wolf, thought to be one spotted at Grand Canyon, shot dead

A federally protected gray wolf — and possibly the first spotted at the Grand Canyon in 75 years — has been shot dead in Utah, according to an environmental group.

Investigators are awaiting a DNA sample to see whether the wolf was “Echo,” a radio-collared female gray wolf that had recently been sighted multiple times on the North Rim in Grand Canyon National Park, the Center for Biological Diversity said in a news release.

The wolf was shot dead Sunday in Beaver, Utah — about 25 miles south of where Interstates 15 and 70 meet — by a hunter who confused the animal for a coyote, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said Monday in a news release. The hunter contacted officials when he realized he had shot a wolf instead of a coyote.

Echo had been seen and photographed multiple tifmes on Arizona’s Kaibab Plateau at the edge of the Grand Canyon National Park, about 250 miles east of Las Vegas. The collar on the wolf was inoperable and Arizona officials had hoped to capture Echo to give her a new collar.

The wolf shot on Sunday was a 3-year-old northern gray wolf collared in January in Wyoming, Utah’s wildlife department said. Tests will determine if that animal was Echo.

A spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined comment Tuesday, saying the agency is not speculating on the identity of the wolf.

People who say they have mistaken the animals for coyotes have killed “dozens” of wolves that travel far from their environment to find mates, the the Center for Biological Diversity said, adding that coyotes are smaller with more pointed snouts and ears.

The gray wolf, which was granted federal protection in 1973, has been taken off the endangered species list in the northern Rockies and upper Midwest. The White House has said it would make a decision about the gray wolf’s federal status by the end of the year.

Echo was the first confirmed wolf encountered in the Grand Canyon since 1939, according to the U.S wildlife service.

Contact Ricardo Torres at rtorres@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Find him on Twitter: @rickytwrites