Officials with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) confirmed the presence of a wolf in the northeast corner of the state. They say a calf recently died in Rich County with bite marks consistent with a wolf.
“Wolves can cover some serious country so we’re doing our best to locate the animal as soon as possible,” Leann Hunting, UDAF’s director of animal industry and food, told KSTU-TV.
Utah law calls for the trapping and killing of any predator that kills livestock.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources confirmed 10 to 20 wolf sightings in Utah over the years with most of those being a lone animal.
Earlier in 2020, the Utah legislature passed a resolution opposing any artificial introduction of wolves into the state. It also passed a resolution opposing a ballot initiative in neighboring Colorado seeking to forcibly introduce wolves onto the landscape there.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation strongly opposes the Colorado measure.