Tracy Wright, age 10, of Swannanoa, N.C., for her question:    

DID WOLVES EVER LIVE IN NORTH CAROLINA?

When the settlers arrived from Europe, they found wild wolves prowling over most of North America. They were large, doggy‑type hunters, hungry for rabbits and ratty rodents. Sometimes they feasted on a baby bison. There were wolves in the original Colonies, including North Carolina. They were still there 200 years ago, when the Colonies became the United States.

The pioneers met up with wild wolves when they crossed the plains and the prairies. There were wolves in the far West, in Canada and way up in the frozen North. But one by one they were hunted down and destroyed. Gradually the wolves were wiped out in the Eastern states and across the plains. Nowadays there are only a few wild wolves left in out‑of‑the‑way places.