New York State Museum: Wild Gray Wolf killed by hunter in Central New York

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Museum can now confirm that an animal shot and killed in Otsego County in 2021 was a wild Gray Wolf. The findings were published in the latest issue of Northeastern Naturalist.

Gray wolves were eliminated from the northeastern United States by the end of 19th century. This is the first documented case of one of these animals south of the St. Lawrence River in Decades. Officials say the discovery provides insight into how wolves travel.

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"The Cherry Valley wolf specimen is an exceptionally important piece of physical evidence of occasional dispersals by wild wolves into the northeastern U.S. from core breeding areas in eastern Canada." says Dr. Jeremy Kirchman, the NYSM Curator o