Wolf Killed in Howard County

Missouri’s Department of Conservation is awaiting test results to confirm if a wolf was killed in Boonville.A bow hunter killed the animal in the Franklin Island Conservation Area on Tuesday and now conservationists are trying to find out how the animal got to Missouri.Officials say the animal was truly a “lone wolf” and believe he left his pack and was trying to find another place to range. Conservation authorities say the hunter initially thought the wolf was a coyote. He apparently tried to scare it off but was unsuccessful and therefore called the conservation department before taking matters into this own hands.Officials say this is not out of the norm for the state. Mid-Missouri used to be full of wolves in the 1800s but hunters wiped them out. Now, the area usually gets young males trying to find a new place to live.”The larger males kick them out,” said Tom Strother of the Missouri Department of Conservation. “They don’t want to be around so they try to find a territory where they’re on their own, someplace they can inhabit and that’s the ones we have coming through Missouri.”Animal experts say the one concern they have would be with human safety if more wolves were in the state. However, they say they do not have to worry about that right now because there is no breeding ongoing in MIssouri that they know of.Conservation officials do not plan on reintroducing wolves in the state and they do expect more cases of single wolves to happen from time to time.