LOGAN, Utah — Evidence that a wolf killed a calf in the Monte Cristo area southeast of this city has prompted a state effort to exterminate the animal plus an environmentalist effort to save it.{/div}

State trappers were sent out in late May after a rancher reported the livestock loss, and they found bite marks on the calf consistent with those of a wolf, along with other evidence. If their determination is correct, it would be the first confirmed case of a wolf in Utah since November of 2015.

It is believed the animal is a gray wolf who entered Rich County from Wyoming or Idaho. As fate would have it, the northeastern corner of Utah is exempted from protections afforded gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act. The unprotected area is north of Interstate 80 and east…