[6] To kill the Custer Wolf, the United States Department of Agriculture sent top federal hunter H.P.

Williams was credited with trapping and killing over a thousand wolves across the Western United States from the late 19th century to the mid-1920s.

The wolf had been known to travel in an area of 300 square miles (780 km2) in southern South Dakota, and had even been seen in parts of Wyoming and Nebraska.

After eluding Williams for yet another month, the Custer Wolf stepped on a trap one mid-October morning.

To the surprise of many residents of Custer, the animal they had thought a monstrosity of nature was just a normal North American gray wolf, 98 pounds (44 kg) heavy and just over 6 feet (1.8 m) in length.

In an interview Williams gave 40 years after leaving South Dakota, he spoke of the great respect that he had for the wolf for giving him the most difficult hunt of his career.

In total, the Custer Wolf was credited with killing more than 500 livestock and horses, worth around $25,000,[5][8] or $380,000 in 2023 dollars.

Beginning in a world of natural harmony, the wolves' lives and those of all other animals are disturbed when iron ore from Michigan and coal from Pennsylvania are turned into guns and traps; strychnine is imported from India, all to make war on the wolf.