NY wolf's DNA tests reveal surprise

DNA tests have confirmed the animal shot in Cayuga County last spring was a wolf, state wildlife officials said this week.

Ward Stone, senior wildlife pathologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said tests on the 99-pound animal proved what he believed all along. The surprising result was the genetic detail revealed in the tests, performed at the University of California at Davis, Stone said.

"They showed that it was part arctic wolf, and part Great Lakes variety," he said.

The wolf is believed to have escaped from a pen, and Stone said he thinks someone was breeding the animal with dogs. He said he would draft a report outlining those suspicions.

Sterling resident John Yuhas found the wolf on top of his pet golden retriever last April. He shot the animal and killed it, but he was too late to save his dog.

The tests make the wolf the second one found in New York since 1899. A hunter shot and killed a purebred gray wolf in Saratoga County in 2002.

Albany Times Union