Are gray wolves still endangered?
For the first time in history, wolf season officially began in Montana's backcountry this week. It follows Idaho's inaugural opening day by two weeks, and likely foreshadows three or four more states joining the wolf-hunting club in the near future.
But North America is a different place today. Early settlers from Europe decimated New World deer, elk and moose populations, leaving wolves little to eat but livestock. Docile farm animals are easy prey for wild wolves, and the costly results of their encounters led many frontier governments to encourage vigilante wolf killing. Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, unregulated hunting and government-sponsored poisoning wiped out virtually all gray wolves in the continental United States except a small population in northern Minnesota.
Gray wolves are almost as adaptable as humans when picking a place to live, and the diverse species — which is the ancestor of domesticated dogs — has dozens of subspecies ranging from the Arctic wolf (pictured, left) to the Mexican wolf (right). Hunting restrictions helped revive U.S. deer and elk populations by the late 20th century, and with plenty of wild food to eat, the gray wolf had little trouble regaining a foothold in the Rockies and Great Lakes.
Legal gray areas
Hunting hunters- Learn about efforts to bring back the endangered red wolf in North Carolina and the endangered Mexican wolf in Arizona and New Mexico.


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Comments(27)
Posted By cheese - Mon, Nov 16 2009 at 12:15 PM ESTWOLVES
I believe that it is wrong to kill these animals. They need family and food and a home just as much as you do and by taking away their home and killing their family is very rude ppl!!! i luv wolves
Posted By Riversong - Fri, Nov 13 2009 at 11:14 AM ESTGE Sheep vs Wild Wolves
The decimation of the American wolf has always been a matter of competition between predators, and man has proven himself to be the most ruthless of all.
Now most of the pressure to de-list and kill off the wolf in the lower 48 comes from ranchers like Cindy Siddoway of Terreton, Idaho who says, "It is devastating for us to put all of the money and the time and the genetics and work to produce a great product and then just have it half-eaten and left to die."
So a.... More
Posted By Bob the builder - Wed, Nov 04 2009 at 2:20 PM ESTthanks!
Thanks! I got a lot of information from this site.
Posted By samantha - Thu, Oct 01 2009 at 4:46 PM ESTI Think It's Wrong
i think that it is wrong that you are able to hunt a creature so beautiful and affectionate. you could get even a wolf to be a nice little dog like creature so it is kind of like hunting a dog. what kind of peoplecould even hunt a sweet little dog like that? anyway it isn't their fault that people have detroyed their homeland and almost wiped them out completly. you wouldn't like being hunted just because you started to bring back your population and people took over your sweet little forest.... More
Posted By shawna - Thu, Oct 29 2009 at 11:23 AM ESTI Think Your Correct
I think that wolves are a great part to our econmoy. you think The world should be left in peice the way it was a long time ago. You shouldn't be able to hunt these wonderful creatures. Wolves are beatiful creatures that shouldn't be killed.
Posted By Nicholas Tyson - Thu, Sep 17 2009 at 5:13 PM ESTNashville,NC
I wish to make a Gray Wolf wildlife reserve when I turn 20. How do I do it and how much money will it take.Also I'm only 11.
Posted By Russell McLendon - Fri, Sep 18 2009 at 7:31 PM ESTRe: Nashville,NC
Hey Nicholas, that's a very noble goal. Gray wolves actually aren't native to North Carolina, but the even more endangered red wolf is. Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, which is about 2.5 hours east of Nashville, N.C., is home to the largest red wolf wildlife reserve on Earth. They have about 200 red wolves there, and are trying to save the species from going extinct. They could probably give you some information about what it takes to set up a wildlife reserve or what you could do to.... More
Posted By Anonymous - Thu, Sep 17 2009 at 3:14 AM ESTaussie POV
i think the american government should not let hunters kill wolves again to near extinction, something like this would never happen in australia especially to a native animal. this against the law in australia to kill any native animal especiallly in national parks. this animals should be protected from hunters. what is more imporrtant losing small amounts of lifestock or a species? this sounds like exactly what japan is doing with whaling to me
Posted By John Davis - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 3:56 PM ESTWow
Sounds like we need to do something now theren!
Posted By Jason - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 12:27 PM ESTSave the Wolves by Managing Them
Ali,
The wolves will not be hunted to the extent to have them relisted. Both Idaho and Montana have already had their wolf managment plan approved by the federal government with regard to the requirements of the ESA. Wolves will be hunted in order to keep thier populations steady. This is the intent of the quota system in place by both Idaho and Montana. As the article indicates, wolf populations have been growing at a rate of 20 to 30 percent per year. In certain areas, this increasing.... More
Posted By Anonymous - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 4:07 PM ESTPreditors necessary
The apex preditors are absolutely necessary to regain natural population levels of game and non-game wildlife. Studies in Alaska have shown that the wolves' natural prey includes many more mice, rats and rabbits than large game, and help keep the varmint population in check. Predation of domestic species has historically overstated.
Posted By Anonymous - Thu, Sep 17 2009 at 2:43 PM ESTWolves can't live on mice and small game
Walt Disney's "Never Cry Wolf" movie suggested that wolves could live on small game. That however is a lie. Wolves must kill large game animals to maintain their energy balance.
Posted By Anonymous - Wed, Sep 23 2009 at 8:58 AM EST"Never Cry Wolf" is a NONfiction book, researched by a naturalis
"Never Cry Wolf" was not a fictional story concocted by Disney--it was based on a factual, long-range study by naturalist Farley Mowat.
After living beside and observing Alaskan wolves for years, Mowat was able to discover previously unobserved wolf behaviors, including the ability to stave off starvation in areas with little game by eating small mammals.
In the absence of large game--or in the case of small packs unable to take down large animals--Mowat found that wolves.... More
Posted By Anonymous - Wed, Sep 23 2009 at 9:00 AM ESTApology for Typos in Mowat post
I apologize for the typos in my previous post. I realize that detracts from its credence.
Posted By Jason - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 5:07 PM ESTApex Predators
Wolves are opportunist. They take what they can get. Sometimes they even take for sport. And while a natural balance sounds great, it is not what wildlife managers want to see. A natural balance dictates flat wolf population and much of that is by starvation. A hungry wolf is much more likely to start depredating on livestock and pets. Plus big game populations would need to be low enough to require the cessation of most big game hunting.
It would be much better to maintain a small.... More
Posted By ali - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 11:51 AM ESTSave the Wolves
Hunting wolves just seems wrong. What is the point of getting them off the endangered species list only to ensure that they will be back on it in years to come!
Posted By Anonymous - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 4:58 PM ESTHunting the wolves seems wrong.......
Well, Let's not do anything and let them get back to the population of 400,000 and then see what happens.
Posted By Anonymous - Mon, Nov 16 2009 at 12:12 PM ESTHUNTING THE WOLVES SEEMS WRONG....
Ya you no what? hunting them is wrong! I love your idea lets let them get back to the population of 400,000 that's how it was once
Posted By Team Edward - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 11:48 AM ESTWolves and the Twilight series
So I'm on "Team Edward," but I do love me some wolves. I'm surprised that fans from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series haven't banded together to save the wolves ("Team Jacob" represent). Don't people know we need the wolves to save us from the bad vampires?
Posted By Anonymous - Mon, Nov 16 2009 at 12:07 PM ESTRe: Wolves and the Twilight series
Really?? Don't you think that saving wolves from extinction in a little more important then Twilight??? wolves are real right now but the way things are going, tomorrow they'll be just a memory with a lot of fur blankets. so shut your trap and go read or watch your Twilight.
Posted By Pamela Drake - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 11:31 AM ESTEndangered Animals
I read somewhere that when an animal is put on the endangered species list, that it actually becomes *more* valuable to poachers and is most likely to be wiped out. But the fact that gray wolves have rebounded sounds like this has been a success.
Posted By Jason - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 12:38 PM ESTOverall the Grey Wolf is not Endangered
The overall population is very healthy in Canada and Alaska. The endangered status is based upon historical habitat and political locations, not the overall population status. Anyone that would want to poach one to have on thier trophy wall could easily just take a trip to Alaska where they are open to hunting.
Posted By Bill Johnson - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 11:29 AM ESTHunting of gray wolves
It's just started in Idaho and Montana...i live in Bozeman and the hunting is a bit off from where I am but the newspapers have been full of news....even people coming in from out of state to get a license.
Posted By Anonymous - Wed, Sep 16 2009 at 11:08 AM ESTWolf Pack
Crazy story - reminds me of Alan Garner from "The Hangover" - "You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?".... More


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