Wolf Hangs Around Near Salmon But Animal Is Likely Not One Of The 15 Released In January

Residents of this central Idaho mountain area think they’ve spotted one of the wolves released in January.

Federal officials aren’t so sure. From the way the animal is acting, it could be a dog-wolf hybrid. In any event, the wolves released earlier this year carry collars with radio transmitters and none of the animals have been monitored in the Lemhi Valley.

Gwenn McAfee is one of several people who reported they spotted a black wolf Wednesday about 15 miles east of Salmon.

McAfee said it was about 30 yards from her, standing by an irrigation ditch.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Ted Koch said the wolf McAfee spotted probably isn’t one of the 15 released in January. Those wolves have ranged from Cascade to Elk City to Lolo, Mont. One was shot Jan. 29 30 miles south of Salmon.

“The odds of it being a radio-collared wolf are very low,” he said.

As far as Koch knows, pilots didn’t locate any of the radio-collared wolves near the Lemhi Valley in a tracking flight on Wednesday. A black female, named B11, was located Monday near the Continental Divide above Gibbonsville, 50 miles of mountainous terrain from Salmon.

Wild wolves have been spotted by residents in the area over the last few years. The black wolf could have been one of those, said Koch.

Koch said if folks keep seeing the animal in the area, it is probably a crossbred wolf-dog pet that somebody dumped off.

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