News of the Wild

Wolf Found at Chain O’Lakes

On February 18, a driver called the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to report seeing a dead wolf on Route 173 near an entrance to Chain O’Lakes State Park. Brad Semel, a natural resources specialist with the IDNR, suspected a coyote. But when he arrived on the scene, he discovered an 89-pound male wolf.

On initial inspection, biologists determined that the wolf was approximately a year and a half old and that it had been killed by a vehicle. Semel said it appeared to be a wild eastern timber wolf, and not a wolf-dog hybrid. State biologists sent the animal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s forensics lab for further study, where genetic tests could reveal more about its origins.

Semel suspects that the wolf probably came from Wisconsin, where wolf populations have been growing. Wolves were nearly exterminated in the lower 48 states by 1960, and were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1974. Since then, they’ve made an impressive comeback. In 2004 there were approximately 3,020 in Minnesota, 400 in Wisconsin, and 360 in Michigan. In large packs, younger, less dominant animals are often forced to leave and search for new territory. Semel suspects the young male traveled from Wisconsin along the green corridor of the Fox River. Seeds found in its fur indicate that it journeyed through wetland and upland habitats.

As wolf populations grow in nearby states, wolves could become more frequent visitors to the Chicago region. Wolves have been seen in the Kettle Moraine area of Wisconsin, just north of Lake County, and Semel says lone wolves have probably been passing through northern Illinois unnoticed for some time. It’s not clear however, whether a pack could ever take up permanent residence. Wolves typically need uninterrupted blocks of woodlands larger than any single natural area in the Chicago region. In addition, as road density increases, wolves’ chances of survival drop.

Semel points out that there is no reason to fear the prospect of wolves in Chicago Wilderness. “There has never been a documented case of a healthy, wild wolf killing a person in North America,” he says. Semel adds that the appearance of this impressive, elusive creature is a sign that wilderness is still alive in the Chicago region. “We have found red-cockaded woodpeckers on the lakefront, migrating whooping cranes resting in restored wetlands, and peregrine falcons nesting on city ‘cliffs,’” he says. “There is still a natural heritage in Illinois to enjoy, cherish, and protect.”

— Stephanie Folk