DNA analysis confirms that the animal killed by a coyote hunter in Colorado last month was a federally protected gray wolf. Read more.

What was the wolf doing wrong? Nothing. He was trying to find a home. Colorado doesn’t have a wolf population and too often pioneers who enter states like Colorado, Utah, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and more are illegally killed. What happens next? Nothing. The U.S. Justice Department’s 16-year-old McKittrick policy prohibits prosecuting individuals who kill endangered wildlife unless it can be PROVED that they knew they were targeting a protected animal.

The McKittrick policy provides a loophole that has prevented criminal prosecution of dozens of individuals who killed grizzly bears, highly endangered California condors, a gray wolf seen at the Grand Canyon last year affectionately named “Echo,” as well as dozens of critically endangered Mexican wolves including two released from the Wolf Conservation Center.

This is all so wrong for so many reasons. He was only trying to find a home.