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Reposted from The Wildlife News:

http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/11/01/wolf-shows-up-at-grand-canyon-national-park/

Wolf shows up at Grand Canyon National Park

by RALPH MAUGHAN on NOVEMBER 1, 2014 
 ARIZONA, WOLF DISPERSAL, WOLVES
Once again incredible migration ability of wolves shows-

Photographs were first taken Oct. 4, 2014 near the North Rim of the canyon of what was almost certainly a wild Northern Rockies gray wolf.  Since then the animal has been seen and photographed several more times.

The three photos from a longer series that I looked at (received by email) show what is obviously a substantial sized wolf, close up, wearing a radio collar. I am not sure if I am allowed to use the photos, so here is one more of the photo series already published at Chronkite News.  It is obviously not a coyote, too massive to be a Mexican wolf, and pet wolves and wolf hybrids do not wear radio collars. It shows all the characteristics of a wolf. A newer article in azcentral.com shows two more recent photos of the wolf with the radio collar (reported taken on Oct. 27).

The person who took the Oct. 4 photos wrote in the email that was copied to me, “I stopped at the Visitor’s Center, told the kid what we’d seen…he said “there are no wolves in the area, what you saw was a big fluffy coyote.” No joke, he wouldn’t even look at the pictures!”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now looking at these and other photos and is non-committal (some suspect saying “this is not good news for us”). The Service is trying to delist wolves all over the West. They have made lots of claims that the wolf is recovered and that all the decent wolf habitat is occupied.  Michael Robinson, with the Center for Biological Diversity“ said, “I’m absolutely thrilled that a wolf managed to travel so far to reclaim the Grand Canyon as a home for wolves.” “This wolf’s journey starkly highlights the fact that wolf recovery is still in its infancy and that these important and magnificent animals continue to need Endangered Species Act protections.”

Other comments: “In the early 1900s over 30 wolves on the North Kaibab, including Grand Canyon National Park, were killed by government hunters,” said Kim Crumbo, conservation director for Grand Canyon Wildlands Council. “The possibility that a determined wolf could make it to the Canyon region is cause for celebration, and we must insist that every effort be taken to protect this brave wanderer.”  “Wolves like this one at the Grand Canyon and OR-7 demonstrate that, when protected, wolves will naturally recolonize their native habitats, restoring balance to wounded landscapes,” said Drew Kerr, carnivore advocate with WildEarth Guardians. “Without Endangered Species Act protections, however, wolves will likely be relegated to a few National Parks in a tiny portion of their historic range.”

To get to the Grand Canyon from the Northern Rockies, the wolf must have crossed not only many rugged and remote areas, but many highways, roads, livestock grazed lands, and red rock desert.