In an unexpected turn of events, it was announced this week that an individual visiting the Grand Canyon spotted and photographed a lone gray wolf there, a habitat that hasn't seen a single gray wolf since at least the 1940s.

According to a news release issued by the Center for Biological Diversity, the endangered wolf likely traveled to the Grand Canyon from its home in the northern Rocky Mountains. Wildlife conservationists are so surprised to have seen the animal pop up because this specific sub-species of wolf has been hunted to the brink of extinction since the 1930's.

"In the early 1900s ... wolves in the North Kaibab, including Grand Canyon National Park were killed by government hunters," Kim Crumbo, conservation director for Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, said in a statement. "The possibility that a determined wolf could make it to the Canyon region is cause for celebration, and we must insist that every effort be taken to protect this brave wanderer."

The only reason that gray wolves have survived on to this day and time is because they were awarded endangered species status in the latter part of the 20th century, when gray wolf populations had dwindled down to virtual nonexistence.

It has been documented and reported by numerous wildlife conservation organizations that, before human settlement in the area we now know as the United States, there were likely over two million wolves roaming free throughout the countryside.

According to one such organization, dubbed the Western Wolf Coalition, more than 200,000 gray wolves once inhabited the United States, though likely not until after it was settled and colonized. However, due to alleged government-sponsored anti-predator campaigns (a "federal extermination program," if you will), bounties and expansive human settlement, the gray wolf was more or less eradicated from the lower 48 states by 1940.

The dwindling population of these animals was not seen or heard from again until they were officially placed on the Endangered Species List in 1973. After that, they were slowly coaxed into a somewhat effective population expansion.

These wolves eventually migrated from the safe haven they'd settled into up in Canada toward northwestern areas of the United States. The gray wolf would go on to settle in a handful of states where they were afforded safety through the Endangered Species Act. Initially they took up residence in Minnesota, Idaho and Montana.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens called for the release of the species into central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park as well and did so successfully. Packs of these wolves moved on to take up residence in these areas as well.

Today the wolf population in the Northern Rockies stands at over 1,650, a number touted as a success by many, but still only a small fraction of the original population..

Areas in and around the Grand Canyon were home to a small portion of the country's overall gray wolf population in the early 20th century and, as noted, has not been home to these animals since then. However, this week's announcement brings a sense of hope and excitement to wildlife activists and conservation organizations alike.

"I'm absolutely thrilled that a wolf managed to travel so far to reclaim the Grand Canyon as a home for wolves," Michael Robinson, a wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "This wolf's journey starkly highlights the fact that wolf recovery is still in its infancy and that these important and magnificent animals continue to need Endangered Species Act protections."

These protections, however, are now in jeopardy under the Obama administration. In recent years government agencies like the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have been seriously considering the removal of the gray wolf from protected status. This particular agency has taken the matter to court several times over the past few years, arguing against the continuance of such protections.

A small victory for pro-wolf parties came in September, however, when the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the delisting of wolves in Wyoming under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service responded to last month's victory, saying "at present we are still evaluating this decision."

That statement may create a more marked wariness on the part of wolf advocates who have been fighting on several fronts for the restoration of the gray wolf population, putting forth money, hard work and relentless dedication to the cause.

These individuals and organizations say they have barely begun to make progress in returning the wild gray wolf population to its former status. They point out that the successes they have achieved thus far have had far-reaching positive implications not only for the wolves themselves, but for other animals that co-exist around them.

Such successes have also helped to strengthen and maintain many of the wolves' actual living environments themselves.

The Western Wolf Coalition says on its website that since re-establishing gray wolf populations in various landscapes, "wolves have begun to restore natural balance to our ecosystem."

They've reportedly done so in many ways:

First off, they've achieved such restoration by acting as natural predators and helping to get rid of weak and diseased elk and deer, to name a few. Other achievements include dispersing large herds of these and similar animals living in vast herds away from "sensitive" wetlands and meadows that have suffered declines in overall health and abundance from decades of over consumption.

The Center for Biological Diversity says that since the inception of the wolf population recovery plans, written in the 1980s, it has learned much more about other aspects of wolf behavior, effects on ecology and the needs of the species.

The Center says it knows, for example, that "returning wolves to ecosystems sets off a chain of events that benefit many other species [as well]."

Among them, songbirds and beavers benefit from wolf repopulation by allowing them to return to an environmental aspect much needed for their survival -- coveted streamside vegetation.

This vegetation is a food source that had been seen deteriorating in many areas. Now, however, it can thrive thanks to the thriving wolf populations that force browsing elk and others from overindulging in the food source.

Another example is in relation to smaller and weaker animals like pronghorns and foxes who have been aided by the wolves' natural control of roaming coyote populations and other equally harmful predators. This does wonders in terms of enriching the livelihood of such animals, according to some experts.

"Wolves like the one at the Grand Canyon ... demonstrate that, when protected, wolves will naturally recolonize their native habitats, restoring balance to wounded landscapes," Drew Kerr, carnivore advocate with WildEarth Guardians said in a statement. "Without Endangered Species Act protections, however, wolves will likely be relegated to a few National Parks in a tiny portion of their historic range."

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