By Karen Richards
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Tuesday the state’s wolf population has risen to at least 53 with as many as five breeding pairs.
In late 2011, a judge agreed with conservationists Oregon was violating its own laws in killing wolves on behalf of the livestock industry. As a result, the state banned more killing until the legal challenge is settled. Rob Klavins, Wildlife Advocate for Oregon Wild, calls the one-year experiment a huge win for the endangered animals and for the state:
Klavins: With that easy option of killing wolves taken off the table, we saw a lot of reluctant but responsible ranchers stepping up and taking efforts to reduce conflict with wolves so we don’t have to kill them in the first place. And it seems like it worked. Even though we saw the wolf population nearly double last year, we also saw conflict and losses to wolves cut nearly in half.
Just over a decade after the first wolf returned to the state, the population is still fragile. Yet, last year brought news of interbreeding between packs, a number of new pups, and “Journey,” the Oregon native who became the first wolf in California in over a century. For these reasons, Klavins hopes 2012 will be remembered as the year wolf recovery got back on track on Oregon.