The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating the April 27 death of what was likely an adult female grey wolf on Interstate-90 near North Bend.

The animal was not collared, said Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Ann Froschauer, and investigators are following standard procedure, including checking the animal’s DNA, and “making sure that it’s a wolf and not a wolf hybrid,” said Froschauer.

Officials retrieved the carcass between mileposts 41 and 42 on the freeway. It was not clear which part of the state the animal was from, which is important, if it is a wolf.

“We have an interesting situation,” said Froschauer, since “a portion of the state, the eastern third or so, is in the federally de-listed area.”

While Eastern Washington wolves, part of the Northern Rockies group, are not federally protected, Western Washington wolves are.

Also, “wolves are able to cover long distances and expansion into western Washington is not unexpected,” said Froschauer.

In Western Washington, Froschauer said, “most of the wolves that we have in that area are expanding there naturally.”

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife tracks the location of wolf packs in Washington and other information on its website: http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife website on wolves is at http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/wolf.

The investigation is expected to take several weeks to complete.