FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] 'Grizzly' Harboldt

["Bob Hatcher" <hatcher2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sam Harboldt
Jackson, TN
SHarboldt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sam,

Thanks for your inquiry about a reported "red wolf" sighting during your 
recent birding visit to Pace Point of Henry County, TN.

Red wolves were seriously considered for reintroduction on TVA's Land 
Between the Lakes during the 1980's.  No red wolves were ever reintroduced 
there (or anywhere else in West or Middle Tennessee).  Coyotes were already 
gradually migrating into the area from the west, and from an unauthorized 
hunter-transplanted population in the Huntsville, AL area.  Coyote sightings 
quickly generated rumors of "red wolves" sightings as far to the east as 
Smith County, TN.

Some of Tennessee's incoming coyotes had red wolf and dog genes, making it a 
little difficult to judge the difference without skull and other 
verification.  Red wolves had historically fought with coyotes and were 
thought to be the primary barriers to coyote migration from western states 
to the east.  However, whenever red wolf and/or coyote populations dwindled 
so low that they could not find their own species with which to mate, they 
chose the closest available options.  Coyotes sometimes mated with dogs, 
producing hybrid, but sexually viable, young.  Such historic hybridization 
contributes to a greater variety of coyote sizes and characteristics, 
compared to their pure strains.  Much testing, concerning the relative 
genetic purities of coyotes in Tennessee, has been conducted by Dr. Michael 
Kennedy of the University of Memphis.

Well before coyotes' gradual natural migration into Tennessee, coyotes and 
red wolves were badly hybridizing in the western states.   By the 1970's, 
the last pure red wolves of eastern Texas were about hybridizing themselves 
out of existence as a separate species.  The remaining pure red wolves of 
that Texas region were therefore removed from the wild, taken to a Tacoma, 
Washington Zoo site, and tested for true red wolf breeding characteristics. 
The pure red wolf offspring were re-introduced into their historic ranges of 
a few eastern states, where coyotes had not yet migrated from the west.  In 
1991, some pure red wolves were placed in Cades Cove of the Smoky Mts 
National Park, which was the only re-introduction of red wolves ever 
attempted in Tennessee.  However, all young that had not been vaccinated, 
died in the wild, possibly from parvo disease, to which they had not been 
historically exposed and therefore had no natural immunity.   In 1998, the 
US Fish and Wildlife Service announced cancellation of the red wolf project 
in Tennessee,  By 1999, all remaining red wolves were removed from the wild 
in the Cades Cove area and transferred to captive breeding facilities and to 
the Alligator National Wildlife Refuge of NE NC, where red wolves had 
already been re-established.

Ed Penrod, District Widlife Biologist of Columbia, TN, apparently found the 
first coyote in the wild in Tennessee. When I encountered him at VFW Lake in 
Lawrence County, TN in 1965 or 1966, he had just shot and killed, what he 
thought was a coyote, the night before in Franklin County, TN.  A farmer had 
been complaining about the animal's (or animals') repeatedly destroying his 
commercial crop of watermelons, of all things.   Ed Penrod suspected the 
dead canid was a coyote but needed to have it scientifically verified. 
Since I worked out of the Nashville office of the old Tennessee Game and 
Fish Commission (now TWRA), he asked if I could take the carcass to 
Nashville and send it to Dr. Michael Kennedy for analysis.  It was indeed a 
coyote, and, as far as I know, the first verified one in Tennessee.

There is a good article at 
http://www.chattoogariver.org/index.php?quart=Su2002&req=wolves concerning 
red wolf recovery efforts, including the aborted 8-year Cades Cove red wolf 
experiment.

Bob Hatcher
Retired TWRA Nongame & Endangered Wildlife Coordinator (1978 - 2001)
Brentwood, TN

***************

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Samuel Harboldt, M.D." <SHarboldt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 10:12 AM
Subject: [TN-Bird] 'Grizzly' Harboldt


 Sam Harboldt
 Jackson, TN
 1/2/08
 Am new to tn-bird, and don't know if this will send or not.  My wife Susan 
and I birded often before kids (about 20 years ago).  The kids have  put 
plenty of gray hairs on my head since then, so looking pretty grizzly by 
now.  Time has also given me a chance to forget what little I did know about 
birds.   Short visit on brisk, windy, snowy, New Years Day at Pace Point, TN 
NWR in Henry County:.

 Barred Owl 1 - my first ever and the highlight of the day.
Golden Eagle,  immature, with underwing proximal primary white patch and 
slight dihedral. 1
Am Kestrel 1
R.T. Hawk 1
Killdeer 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
N. Cardinals ++
Blue Jays ++
Song Sparrow 1
W.T. Sparrows + one taking a frigid bath in a tiny roadside stream
Hooded Mergansers ++
Gadwalls +
Am Widgeons +
N. Pintail +
Mallards +++
P.B. Grebe +
N. Shoveler  +
Canada Goose +++
Gulls ++ (distant)
Crows +++ (distant)
Wild canine (see below)

 It sounds crazy to me, so I suppose all will think so:  could there be red 
wolves at TN NWR at Pace Point in Henry County?  he other highlight was a 
wild canine crossing the gravel road less than a hundred feet in front of 
me.  After crossing 20 feet or so into the cover of the woods, it stopped 
and looked back, not at my car but toward the direction from which it had 
come, as though concerned about kinfolks.  This pause afforded me a very 
good look through my binoculars.  It was about the size and texture of a 
Rough Coated Collie or German Shepherd-Collie mix, but clearly blockier and 
more muscular, and  with it's splendid  spiky coat  appearing ruffed up as 
if  in response to the  cold wind.  However, these were not Collie or German 
Shepherd colors, but those of coyote or wolf, and the facial physiognomy was 
not Collie.   It's head looked rather broad.  As I'm well aware that gray 
wolves don't run there,  I concluded forthwith that it was an extra 
good-looking coyote, not  even thinking of red wolf.   A few minutes later I 
chatted briefly with a couple of older local men cruising the refuge in a 
pickup, who asked if I'd seen wolves.  They maintained with great assurance 
that red wolves run there, which came as a great surprise to me.  I told 
them that I understand that there is some (debatable) DNA etc. evidence for 
interbreeding between coyotes and red wolves (believe I read this is Scott 
Weidensaul's Mountains of the Heart), but they wouldn't budge on their 
theory.  Then I was left to ponder - how red is red?  It seemed a gorgeous 
mixed pelt of gray and tawny  (red?) tones with subtle black highlights. 
This  leaves me interested in hearing from any knowledgeable persons and/or 
needing to contact the refuge officials to learn if there has indeed been 
some reintroduction attempt.  I have heard of spots in the 
Appalachians/Southeast where there are programs to reintroduce the red wolf. 
If only coyotes are known to be there, special protection
wouldn't be necessary, but if red wolf is there I'd be concerned that 
ill-informed and prejudiced locals might enjoy cruising the area and taking 
down any reintroduced animals.   In that case the support of outdoor-minded 
persons such as birders could be important, so I'll run the risk of 
appearing gullible.  I want to stress that I'm not reporting a red wolf 
siting,  however, I was quite struck with the rugged beauty of this beast, 
who had a bold erect stance and lacked the skulking posture and scrawny look 
I associate with coyotes.  Perhaps it just looked bigger and better pelted 
because it was cold and I saw it so close.


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=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen.  The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
      To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
                    tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________ 
                To unsubscribe, send email to:
                 tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
            with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
  TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society 
       Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
        endorse the views or opinions expressed
        by the members of this discussion group.
 
         Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
                 wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                ------------------------------
                Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
                         Cleveland, OH
                -------------------------------
               Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
                          Rosedale, VA
__________________________________________________________
         
          Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
              web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                          ARCHIVES
 TN-Bird Net Archives at http://www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/

                  EXCELLENT MAP RESOURCES
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com

_____________________________________________________________