Wednesday, November 22, 2000  
 
'Extinct' wolf may still be on the prowl  
 
By Tomoaki Takakura
Mainichi Shimbun  
 
KITAKYUSHU - An amateur biologist claims to have snapped a photograph of a Japanese wolf, an animal long believed to be extinct. 

Experts are divided over whether the animal captured on film by Akira Nishida is indeed a Japanese wolf, but the amateur biologist urges the government to take action. 

"As long as there is a chance that it could be the wolf, the Environment Agency should get out there and do something," Nishida told a news conference Monday. 

Nishida, whose regular job is the principal of a public high school, says that he was walking along a mountain track in central Kyushu on July 8 this year when the animal he believes to be a Japanese wolf burst out of the surrounding forest and strode past him. 

Nishida says the canine's stubby tail identifies it as a Japanese wolf.