Tom Gehringer never found mowing the lawn too exciting. But on May 5, the Greene-area businessman had an audience.

That evening, Gehringer and his wife spotted three wolves on their property, about 45 miles north of Minot.

"I didn't expect to see something like that," he said of spotting the first one. "I had a camera in my truck and I wish I would have thought to take a picture. But it was gone so fast, took off running as soon as I turned the mower on."

Gehringer said one large black animal watched him from about 100 yards away, while another two wolves remained behind a tree row.

Gehringer's run-in marked the state's most recent gray wolf sighting, said Jeff Towner, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's North Dakota field office in Bismarck.

Towner said the state rarely sees gray wolves, which also can be black, white or tan in color. Many of the animals disperse from packs in Minnesota or Manitoba, and pass through the state while looking for permanent habitats, he said.

Because of a largely agricultural landscape, North Dakota could never likely support a permanent wolf population, said Rich Grosz, a Fish and Wildlife Service special agent.

This year, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported sightings around the Carter Dam area north of Greene, near Carpio and near the Canadian border north of Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge.

In early February, two wolves were seen near the northern edge of Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge.

Although wolves sometimes move close enough to be spotted by humans, the animals pose little danger, Towner said. North America has no documented cases of wolf attacks on humans, he said, and attackson farm animals also are infrequent.

"They are curious animals, but they always try to avoid human beings if they can," Towner said. "They are very wary of humans and know humans are dangerous to them."

The federal Endangered Species Act protects gray wolves, and anyone found guilty of shooting the animals could be fined $100,000 and serve one year in jail, he said.

Since August 1998, Grosz said, wildlife officials have handled five cases of wolf killings.

Often, he said, hunters mistake the animals for large coyotes.

"People don't go out and knowingly hunt wolves," Grosz said. "But hunters need to be more conscious of what they're shooting at."

And as wolf populations in neighboring states continue to flourish, Towner said North Dakota could see more wolf sightings in the future. As top predators of wild mammals, wolves could help control the state's generous deer population, Towner said.

"If we see wolves returning to the state, it's an indication of a healthy ecosystem," he said. "I hope people keep an open mind of having such a magnificent predator in the state."