No charges in killing of gray wolf in southern Michigan. Experts stumped about how it got there.

Wildlife experts have hit a dead end in their quest to determine how a gray wolf arrived in southern Michigan for the first time in more than 100 years.

The wolf was killed in January by a hunter who told investigators that he had mistaken it for a coyote. It was a shock: While gray wolves are common in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — the latest estimate is more than 700 — the state’s southern Lower Peninsula doesn’t offer the proper habitat.

“We just don’t know how it got there,” Brian Roell, wolf expert at the state Department of Natural Resources, said.

Separately, authorities who received a report about the DNR’s investigation said Thursday that no charges would filed against the hunter or guide.

https://apnews.com/article/gray-wolf-mystery-michigan-lower-peninsula-caadd0bc4c0eefb5faa334d0c1a5a960