Gray Wolf Spotted at Grand Canyon, Sign of Recovery?

A gray wolf was recently spotted at the Grand Canyon in Arizona on Thursday, the first wolf sighting in the national park in decades, making conservationists everywhere hopeful that it's a sign the species is recovering.

While officials from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) at first described the animal as "wolf-like," possibly either a wolf or wolf-dog hybrid, it has since been confirmed as a gray wolf.

Aside from technicalities, the agency's primary concern "is the welfare of this animal," FWS spokesman Jeff Humphrey told The Associated Press (AP).

The lone wolf could possibly belong to a population of fewer than 100 endangered Mexican gray wolves lives in portions of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. However, its full body and more rounded ears indicate that it belongs to a group 1,700 strong inhabiting the Northern Rockies, according to Humphrey.

And as seen in photos from Kaibab National Forest north of Grand Canyon National Park, the wild animal wears a collar similar to those used in a wolf recovery effort in the Northern Rockies.

Wolves, including the gray wolf, were largely hunted to near extinction over the last century in the lower 48 states, except in the western Great Lakes area. They haven't been seen roaming around the Grand Canyon region since the 1940s, making this sighting an extraordinary one.