A male yearling wolf in Oregon was hit and killed by a vehicle on Monday along Highway 138. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the wolf was not behaving like the animals typically do around humans, leading state officials to believe that people had been feeding him from their cars.
This Sept. 26, 2019 photo provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a 52 lb female juvenile wolf from the Indigo group of wolves who was fitted for a GPS collar in the Umpqua National Forest.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife / AP
The wolf, known as OR-143, was a member of the Indigo pack in Western Oregon. It’s one of the few remaining wolf packs in southwest Oregon.
“I’m heartbroken to learn that a yearling wolf from the Indigo pack has died,” Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Being struck by a car is almost inevitable when people feed wild animals from their cars because those animals lose their fear of both vehicles and their human occupants.”
Wolves in Western Oregon are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.