How many timber wolves in wisconsin

This article is more than 2 months old. Hunters killed double limit during February breeding season State wildlife officials recommended a kill limit. The gray wolf was protected as an endangered species until the Trump administration delisted it last October.

Wisconsin hunters kill wolves in less than 60 hours, sparking uproar. Read more. The wolf population typically doubles in spring after pups are born and then declines through winter. In its work to monitor the species in Wisconsin, DNR employees conduct aerial and ground surveillance each year. In addition, volunteer trackers assist the project in winter by monitoring survey blocks.

Last winter more than volunteers contributed to the work, according to the agency. The wolf counts are conducted in winter when the animals are easiest to observe and track and when the population is at an annual low. Wiedenhoeft said it's too early to say whether wolves have reached biological carrying capacity in the state. After seeing an uptick in distemper a couple of years ago, state biologists found no significant disease issues in the state's wolves over the last year, Wiedenhoeft said.

No sheep were depredated in , but state and federal officials are investigating a May case in which 11 sheep or lambs were killed, 25 were missing and three were injured on a farm near Park Falls. The DNR's wolf information presented Tuesday was preliminary and did not include an updated map of wolf packs or details on wolf mortality, including illegal killings, over the last year.

More complete information is expected to be released in the coming weeks. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed delisting the species in the Lower 48 states. The count is conducted in winter when snow cover allows efficient tracking, and it represents the low point in the annual population cycle. Wolf numbers increase each year following the spring breeding period. The increase in wolf numbers over the past 30 years has generally been accompanied by range expansion within the state.

In portions of the northern and central forest, where wolves have been established for many years, territorial behavior has served to keep wolf numbers fairly stable. In recent years, range expansion across the state has been minimal, suggesting that wolves likely occupy all suitable habitat in Wisconsin.

Prior to European settlement, 3,, wolves are believed to have been found throughout Wisconsin. During the s, unregulated hunting by settlers extirpated bison, elk, caribous and moose in the state and nearly eliminated white-tailed deer as well.

As prey species became scarce, wolves increasingly began to feed on livestock. This led the state legislature to pass a bounty on wolves in The state bounty on wolves persisted until when wolves were classified by the state as a protected species. Elimination of bounties, however, made little difference for wolves as they had already been exterminated across most of Wisconsin; by the s only a few wolves remained in the far northern part of the state.

As a result of habitat loss, declines in prey populations and unregulated harvest, wolf populations declined until the species was declared extirpated from Wisconsin in Wide-spread declines among wildlife species eventually led to greater public scrutiny of unregulated harvests and increased support for conservation measures.

The culmination of this changing ethic was the passage of the Endangered Species Act in , which enacted significant protections for species at risk of extinction. In , the value of gray wolves was recognized by the federal government via its inclusion on the list of endangered species.

After federal protections were established for wolves, the wolf population in Minnesota began to increase and expand their range. In the mid to late s, this expansion led to wolves naturally recolonizing northwest Wisconsin and the first breeding pack confirmed in Douglas County in While initial population growth was slow, by the mids Wisconsin's wolf population began to increase and expand steadily.

Wolves in the Western Great Lakes region surpassed federal recovery goals in the winter of , when Wisconsin and Michigan had a combined total of wolves for 5 consecutive years, and the population in Minnesota remained stable or continued to grow.

Wolves would not be able to thrive if it was not for the support of the people that live near them every day. Thankfully, studies show that Wisconsinites generally value and are in favor of wolves Public attitude of wolves draft [PDF].

The recovery of wolves in the Western Great Lakes region stands as a testament to the cooperation of federal, state and tribal agencies, as well as other conservation partners working together to support wolf recovery. When evaluating the history of wolf management in Wisconsin, it is important to understand that conservation decisions are made at both federal and state levels, though federal law supersedes state law.

Wolves in the Western Great Lakes region surpassed federal recovery goals in the winter of , when Wisconsin and Michigan had a combined total of wolves for 5 consecutive years, in addition to the population in Minnesota being stable or growing Wolf Recovery Plan [PDF]. However, the federal status of wolves has changed a number of times over the past two decades.

Most recently, gray wolves were removed from the federal endangered species list by the US Fish and Wildlife Service on Jan. The graphic above provides a chronology of federal classification for gray wolves in Wisconsin.

As Wisconsin's wolf population met and exceeded recovery goals in the s, biologists recognized the need to develop a state-driven approach to management that would support a healthy and persistent wolf population, and identify goals for wolf management in the state. This document has successfully guided recovery efforts for many years. Gray wolves Canis lupus , also referred to as timber wolves, are the largest wild members of the canid dog family. Their close relatives, coyotes Canis latrans are sometimes called brush wolves but are not true wolves.

Wolves in Wisconsin can weigh between pounds. Males tend to be larger than females averaging 75 and 60 pounds respectively. Wolves have many color variations but tend to be buff-colored tans grizzled with gray and black although they can also be black or white.

In winter, their fur becomes darker on the neck, shoulders and rump. Their ears are rounded and relatively short, and the muzzle is large and blocky.

Wolves generally hold their tail straight out from their body or point them downward. Wolves are primarily carnivorous. In the winter, when beavers are in their lodges or are moving safely beneath the ice, wolves rely more heavily on deer and hares. Wolves' summer diets are more diverse, including a greater variety of small mammals.

But that could drive the population dangerously low, Treves said. Wildlife managers in Michigan and Minnesota are also considering wolf hunts. In some western states, Republican legislators are pushing aggressive methods such as night-time hunts, bounty-like payments and allowing shooting from motorized parachutes, ATVs or snow machines any time of year.

State wildlife managers were capable of designing science-based hunts that keep wolf populations healthy if politicians and judges let them, he said. This article is more than 4 months old. Wisconsin hunters kill wolves in less than 60 hours, sparking uproar. Read more.