Earlier this week, a trapper working for the state of Utah went to investigate a calf that had been killed by a predator in Rich County. He brought coyote traps, expecting the typical culprit.

But after analyzing scat, tracks and other evidence, the trapper determined the calf was killed not by a coyote, but a rare gray wolf — a species that has been sighted in Utah only a handful of times since it was extirpated from the state in the 1920s.

Traps were set, but the wolf had not yet been killed as of Wednesday, according to Leann Hunting, director…