A coyote hunter in February shot a wolf near Fairbank in northwest Buchanan County -- the first documented wolf in Iowa since at least 1925, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
The confirmation of the animal as a wolf, by DNA testing, closes the circle on big predators that, though once exterminated, have re-entered Iowa, at least in small numbers -- black bear, mountain lion and now the wolf.....
Although wolves are a protected species in Iowa, the DNR declined to issue a citation to the hunter, who has not been publicly identified.....
Two different subspecies of gray wolf occurred in Iowa. The Great Plains wolf, which preyed primarily on stragglers of bison herds, lived in the western two-thirds of the state.
The gray (timber) wolf lived in the eastern third.......
