The presence of wolves in Maine is hotly debated after they were extirpated from the Northeast due to centuries of bounties, habitat alteration and development. But with evidence of a possible wolf roaming the trails, researchers must turn to poop, or scat, to really understand if they’ve returned.
Differentiating between different canid species can be challenging, especially from visual observations or scat analysis alone. Wolves, coyotes and domestic dogs can have overlapping characteristics, and hybridization between these species can further complicate identification.
John Glowa, the founder of Maine Wolf Coalition (MWC), says differentiating between a wolf, a coyote and a hybrid animal on a trail camera is complicated. “We acknowledge the only way to be certain is through DNA,” Glowa told the Portland Press Herald, “but the evidence we have collected certainly points to an Eastern wolf.”
Some of that evidence is scat samples, which were analyzed in 2020. In addition to deploying trail cameras and pouring over footage looking for wolf-like animals, Glowa and a small team of volunteers have been collecting scat for noninvasive genetic sampling.
