There’s an email currently circulating around that features a wolf shot in the Drayton Valley area in Alberta, Canada. There’s no doubting that if the photograph is real, it could be one of the biggest on record, though an official weight has yet to be documented.
The timber wolf was hunted by a bear hunter, and rumor has it, this was following a recorded attack upon a black bear by the large canine. While accounts of this wolf have varied – with some stating that it weighed as much as 600 lbs, a better rough estimate of its weight by apparent wildlife experts has placed it at around 235 lbs.
Though some are still questioning the true existence of a timber wolf around this size (the increased ability of individuals to manipulate with Photoshop and other software programs leads to reluctance), if in fact the wolf weighs in at this size it would be recording setting. Previously, the biggest wolf on record was 175 lb Alaskan wolf reported in 1944.
Unfortunately, focus upon this wolf issue has begun for the wrong reasons. In addition to the email chain that’s circulating, the wolf is a hot topic amongst hunters on hunting forums online. While there may be others out there like it, it is possible that this wolf, if reports are true, was an anomaly. Rather than being hunted for sport, it could have been studied in a natural setting for research purpose and an increased understanding of the evolution of the species.
Fact or fiction – the hype surrounding Alberta’s enormous timber wolf does make us wonder what other species are living among us that we’ve yet to discover. What do you believe?
Image Via: Flickr User PublicEnergy with a Creative Commons License
Additional source: National Park Services
Steak anyone? Oh no protect the cattle too! Don’t put those suckers on their tits …that’s inhumane! Gimme a break! Put a gun in your hand in front of a hungry or threatened wolf what would you do?
What really entertains me is the people who truly understand the need for population control (hunting ) & conservation are probably sitting back reading all of these threads laughing at the bickering between the “hunters & tree huggers “…
I am a hunter and a conservationist. I do not agree with the wolf hunt at all and yet let me remind i to am a hunter and i love to hunt but taken out top predators such as wolves will do nothing but harm our ecosystem just wait and see.
Where was this at? Alberta Canada. Not our country, not our business. When is this country going to quit sticking their nose into everyone’s affairs. We are the race that needs to be controlled.
im in favor of a wolf hunt. not all out removal, just a season.
my lab wolf mix pup is 125. @ 8months i can see this wolf reaching that size, tho i would beleive it to be a domestic escape/ or released.
So where is the wolfs body now, produce it measure it and end all notions of it being real or fake. If you tell me this hunter does not have the body or disposed of it, a magnificent trophy like that…………….right!
i am impressed they finally got jack nicholson
a 120 lb wolf is a big mother.show me a 150 lb and i may believe it.pictures dont account for nuthing’.harold
In my opinion, the wolf population is too low world-wide to make even a seasonal hunt appropriate. And as for hungry or angry wolves, they stay away from humans if at all possible. also the only places you see wolves hunting cattle are in areas where the natural prey of wolves have been driven out or killed to protect the cattle feeding areas. Given a choice a wolf would eat a hare over some child’s rabbit and they would much rather eat bison than beef. the animals everyone sees running around stealing children and pets aren’t wolves, though many will report ‘A wolf took my Dog’. In fact recently in my area someone claimed a wolf was eating her chickens, not only was it not a wolf, it wasn’t even canine, it was one of her barn cats. Regardless of that fact, every coyote, fox, and dog that looked anything like a wolf was rounded up and killed.
My own German Shepherd Husky mixes were supposed to be part of that. I hunt, and now I have a $1,500 fine for shooting at an animal control officer, my neighbor was more complacent than me and now he’s facing jail time for having a wolf hybrid, even though his dog was an Alaskan Mal. I wonder how long it will be before this gets in the news.
PS. Wolves have been seen in my area in over a hundred years.