Livestock Predator Still a Mystery

From news reports, the Montana livestock killer is still undetermined, but genetic tests suggest it may be a hybrid:

"Even after wolves were hunted, trapped and poisoned out of existence in most of Montana, lone predators continued to haunt sheepherders. There was the White Wolf of the Judith Basin, hunted for 15 years, and the Ghost Wolf of the Little Rockies.
"'These things became mythological,' said Ed Bangs, the Fish and Wildlife Service recovery coordinator for the Rocky Mountains. 'Some people said they had supernatural powers.'
"They were, however, wolves. Wildlife officials are not sure what the latest phantom livestock killer was.
"For 10 months, ending in November, an elusive animal that federal officials assumed was a feral dog went on a killing spree in remote north-central Montana, slaughtering dozens, perhaps hundreds, of sheep and injuring many more. It was shot and killed from an airplane Nov. 2 by federal wildlife officials. Nearly two months later, the biological evidence is inconclusive." ...
"Ranchers in Dawson, Garfield and McCone Counties who saw the animal say they have no doubt it was a wolf, and they suspect it migrated hundreds of miles from large wolf populations in the Yellowstone region or in Canada.
"It is not just a question of taxonomy. If the animal is a wolf, the ranchers could be paid tens of thousands of dollars by conservationists for their losses. If it is a dog or a hybrid, they are probably not eligible for reimbursement.
"Federal trappers first assumed the animal was a feral dog because a wolf has not been seen in this area since the early 1920s. The animal also attacked and wounded the sheep in many places, which is characteristic of dogs, not wolves." ...
"At 105 pounds, however, the animal was much larger than a dog, closer to the size of the gray wolves that inhabit the Northern Rockies. Yet the feet were small, and the face pointed, uncharacteristic of wolves. The gray-and-cream-colored fur, with flecks of orange, was also unusual. Western wolves are usually gray or white, but never brown.
"Tests have shown some similarity to coyote DNA but have been inconclusive. State officials say they are waiting for more DNA testing before making a determination. It could be a number of things: a wolf-dog cross; a very unusual hybrid of a gray wolf and a coyote; a coydog, a coyote-dog cross; or a wolf from Minnesota or Wisconsin.
"A state biologist who picked up the carcass of the animal said he believed it was a pet because of its teeth.
"'The teeth were perfect,' said the biologist, Jon Trapp, a wolf management specialist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. 'Not even a chip. And there was tartar buildup.' Wolves often have broken teeth and no tartar because they chew up bones.
"Ranchers who experienced losses are skeptical of the talk of hybrids. 'There’s no doubt it was a wolf,' said Jim Whiteside, a rancher near Jordan, Mont. 'It’s a matter of trying to evade the burden of damage.'"

If nothing else, we can note that the ethnozoology of the ranchers is skewed in this case: a large canine will be called "wolf" regardless of its true taxonomic status. And, there does not appear to be any basis for referring to it as any specific cryptid canine.

[Full news posted to StrangeArk archive.]