Have you ever wondered if there are wolves in update New York? While no one can say for sure whether wolves live in the state full-time, in this post, we will explore the possibility.
My family and I moved to upstate New York a few years ago, not really knowing what kind of wildlife we might find. In fact, we never really gave the diversity of the animals up here much thought.
One day, that all changed. My husband and I were taking a walk down the road where we live, chatting while we walked, when suddenly we heard a big animal scrambling in the leaves only about 15 feet away from us.
It was a black bear! I should say that this particular black bear was exactly as scared as I was, and was scrambling up a rocky hill just as fast as he could.
Both the bear and I were very happy to part ways and continue about our respective day.
It was at that moment that I started to wonder what else might be in these remote forests that I had been enjoying so much. The Adirondacks were a place that we had only just begun to explore, and we were overwhelmed by the solitude and unspoiled character of the wilderness.
Is it possible for there to be wolves in New York?
Anyone who has spent time the deep forests of upstate New York has probably at least wondered if there could still be wolves there. According to most experts, and the state government, there have been no wolves in New York for at least 120 years.
But – and there is a huge but, New York State also acknowledges that there is a stable wolf population in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Most of New York’s border with Canada is along large bodies of water such as Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River, but there is a 65-mile portion of the border that runs through a sparsely populated area.
Could a few wolves from the stable wolf population a few miles north of the border cross into the state of New York looking for a new wolf-friendly habitat? There is, after all, a very healthy deer population in New York, with some estimates putting the population at over 1.2 million.
It seems at least plausible that this may have happened, right?
What happened to the wolves in New York state?
The reason that almost everyone will say that there are no populations of wolves in New York State is because the last gray wolf was believed to be killed in 1890. This is around the same time when the last wolves were killed in Vermont and Maine, and about 100 years after the last wolf population was seen in Connecticut.
Whether these wolves were truly the “last” wolves killed, we do know that most Americans were supportive of the idea of, to put it bluntly, exterminating the wolves. This idea might sound shocking to the modern sensibility, since most of us would now be horrified at the thought of wiping out an entire species.
Even though wolves had likely lived in some sort of balance with the diverse groups of Native American peoples of North America, European arrivals to what was to become the United States had their own way of dealing with wolves. For centuries, most European nations supported the reduction, or complete elimination, of wolves.
The Eurasian wolf is larger than wolf species in North America, and there are thousands of recorded attacks by wolves in Europe on humans and livestock. With limited knowledge and resources, it is understandable that our ancestors learned to fear these animals.
Whether it was due to cultural beliefs, or the fact that wolves do tend to target livestock, if easily accessible, European immigrants to North America and their descendants continued the thousand-year practice of eliminating as many wolves as possible. This decimated the wolf population in the United States, and recovery has been slow.
The wolves, along with many other animals, such as moose, caribou, and wolverines, struggled to survive in New York state after the arrival of Europeans. While moose have made a slow comeback, and the occasional wolf is spotted, we are unlikely to see those other animals within our state’s borders ever again.
What kind of wolves might be found in New York?
The species of wolf that historically lived in New York is the grey wolf. This is also the same species of wolf that lives in Canada near New York, and the likely the same species that has been spotted in confirmed wolf sightings.
Have there been Adirondack wolf sightings?
There have been three total confirmed sightings of wolves in New York state in the past few decades, with the most recent incident being wolf killed by a hunter during coyote hunting season in 2021. While it is certainly tragic that the wolf was killed, it is also exciting to imagine that there may be others.
The most recent wolf sighting was also unique because it was confirmed by DNA evidence. In other words, there is no doubt that this animal was a wolf.
Even more interesting is that this wolf was found in Ostego County, southeast of Utica, in what is known as New York’s Southern Tier. This is hundreds of miles south of the Canadian border, very far away from known communities of wolves.
It is important that people who spend time outdoors, especially hunters, learn to identify wolves because they are endangered and protected here in New York. Wolves have a protected status here in New York State, even if there are no confirmed populations.
Did the print belong to a wolf, or just a huge dog (like a coyote?) that walks just like a wolf? I’ve also seen quite large scat on my walks that is over 1.5″ in diameter and filled with hair and bones.
We do have Eastern Coyotes in New York, after all. One could never be sure.
I’m certainly not an expert in these things, but because I do spend so much time outside in the woods hiking and fishing in the Adirondacks and other remote areas, I’m particularly interested in the answer. While the chance of encountering a wolf is only slightly better than spotting Bigfoot, I still like to keep my eyes peeled when out in the woods.
Conclusion
To sum it up, we know that it’s theoretically possible for wolves to be present in the state of New York because there are stable populations close by, wolves can travel great distances, and there have been verified instances of wolves being hunted in the state within the past few decades.
However, most experts say that even though there is a lot of suitable habitat in New York, there is no evidence of groups of wolves living in the state. Officially, they are gone in this state – hunted right down until the last one.
So, are there wolves in New York? I’d like to hear what you think.
Leave me a comment below!