Avintaquint, a legendary gray wolf in eastern Utah, represented the challenges faced by wolf populations in a landscape where they were hunted and vilified. As reporters documented individual wolves, like Lady Snowdrift and Old Three Toes, these animals gained a bizarre celebrity status. By the mid-20th century, intentional eradication left the West largely wolf-less until the Endangered Species Act of the 1970s paved the way for their gradual return. Today, healthy wolf populations exist in the Northern Rockies, marking a significant turnaround in their conservation status.
Avintaquint was not a human outlaw, but a canine one - a giant gray wolf that gained notoriety by feasting on sheep and cattle throughout eastern Utah.
As wolf populations declined, reporters started focusing on individual animals, christening them and giving them celebrity status.
With the exception of occasional visitors from Mexico and Canada, the region remained mostly wolf-less until the animals received Endangered Species Act protection in the 1970s.
There are now healthy populations in the Northern Rockies - where the wolf is no longer listed as endangered - and smaller, more tenuous pockets in other Western states.
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