A puppy found about a month ago in Poe Paddy State Park in Centre County is a coyote, according to a DNA test.

The small female canine was initially thought to be a shepherd mix puppy. But the circumstances under which she was found and her appearance left enough questions unanswered that Centre Wildlife Care in Lemont, where she is being cared for by wildlife rehabilitators, decided to run a DNA test.

Results of that test came back Tuesday, confirming that the pup is a coyote, said Robyn Graboski, executive director of the wildlife rehabilitation center.

“Her coloring and her initial calm demeanor had us believing she was a shepherd mix puppy that was abandoned.

“We consulted with experts, biologist, and other rehabilitators that work with coyotes and coydogs (dog/coyote hybrid) and even they said it could go either way. So, a DNA test was ordered so we (would know) how to proceed in her care.”

When the pup was found in the state park, she was thin and very hungry.

Graboski noted, “She was a youngster that didn’t know how to fend for herself. She wasn’t afraid of humans, but she wasn’t affectionate either.

“After arrival, we took her to the Animal Medical Hospital to collect a sample for DNA testing, vaccines, heartworm test, deworming and scanned for a chip.

“As time went on and she started to feel better, she became warier of people.”

Staff at the rehabilitation center have named the young coyote Paddy for the place where she was found and are consulting with biologists to determine what is best for her.

Confusion over the identity and ancestry of coyotes in Pennsylvania is common and widespread, often leading a speculation of whether an animal is coyote, coyote-wolf or coyote-dog.

A study of the DNA and skulls from nearly 700 Pennsylvania and New York coyotes more than a decade ago proved the long-held belief that our coyotes gained their superior size by interbreeding with wolves as they expanded their range from the west, north around the Great Lakes and then south through New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

While coyotes in the western U.S. generally weigh 20 to 35 pounds, the coyotes in the East average 35-40 pounds in females and 45-55 pounds in males, with some monster males pressing the scales at more than 60 pounds.

While pre-Colonial America was inhabited by wolves hunting large prey, like deer, in the East, coyotes evolved as hunters of small prey west of the Mississippi River.

{p class=”krtText”}Previous research has shown that the removal of the eastern wolves in the face of European settlement and the ensuing spread of agriculture cleared the way for the expansion east by coyotes. In western Pennsylvania, there appears to be a pocket of pure coyote that seems to have arrived here directly from the West, rather than by the route around the Great Lakes.

{p class=”krtText”}The rest of the puzzle was revealed by research by Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum; Jeremy Kirchman, curator of birds at the museum; and Abigail Curtis, a former student at SUNY Albany and now a graduate student at the University of California in Los Angeles.

{p class=”krtText”}Through genetics and skull morphology they’ve determined that remnant wolf populations in Canada hybridized with coyotes as the latter expanded into the former’s range north of the Great Lakes.

{p class=”krtText”}And, that has resulted in larger, stronger coywolf hybrids, capable of taking a much wider range of game, including the abundant deer in eastern forests.

{p class=”krtText”}Of the 696 coyote samples in the study, the researchers found only one that was closely related to domestic dogs, providing strong evidence that coyotes are not frequently breeding with domestic dogs in the East. The long popular term of coydog appears to be mostly inaccurate.

{p class=”krtText”}According to Kays, in addition to their greater overall size, coywolves have wider skulls and more powerful jaws than coyotes, and they tend to be variable in coloring.

{p class=”krtText”}Coyotes have been in Pennsylvania since the late 1930s, mostly in the Northern Tier counties at first but subsequently spreading across the entire state, including all Pennsylvania cities.

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