This is Echo, the first gray wolf to be spotted near the Grand Canyon in decades. It’s now been confirmed that in December, just a few months after Echo was first seen, a hunter killed the rare wolf, mistaking her for a coyote.
She was shot in Utah after traveling 750 miles searching for a mate.
“Echo came to a heartbreaking end, but her odyssey through forest and desert shows that excellent habitat still remains for wolves in the American West,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity in a statement. “Her death also demonstrates that public education, law enforcement and solid science are needed now more than ever to recover endangered wolves, and that the last thing they need is to have their federal protections yanked.”
“Genetic Test Confirms Grand Canyon Wolf Shot in Utah” (via Washington Post)