Wisconsin wolf population continues to grow
State population
estimated at 425 to 455
PARK FALLS, Wis. – The
estimated number of gray wolves in Wisconsin through the late winter of 2005
was 425 to 455, up about 14 percent from the estimate of 373 to 410 for
the same time a year ago, according to state wildlife
officials.
There were a total of 108 packs and 14
lone wolves documented in the state mainly distributed in northern and
central forest portions of Wisconsin. The pack count was the same at 108
last year.
The state Department of Natural
Resources recently completed the winter population estimate, which is
based on a aerial surveys tracking 35 packs with radio-collared wolves,
along with thousands of miles of snow track surveys by DNR trackers and
volunteers, and collection of reports of wolf observations by the
general public. The DNR has conducted the annual survey since the winter
1979-1980, and this was the tenth year of using trained volunteer
trackers.
The goal for the state wolf population
set in the 1999
Wolf Management Plan was 350 wolves in the
state outside Indian reservations. The recent count included 414 to 442
wolves outside of Indian reservations (11 to 13 wolves occurred on
reservation), thus the population is 64 to 92 wolves above the state
goal.
This estimate does not include any
wolf pups that will be born this spring. Wolves are currently at den
sites and wolf pups are usually born in April. Packs usually average
five to six pups per breeding female in the spring, but often fewer than
30 percent of the pups survive to the end of their first
winter.
“Because wolves are still listed
as endangered by the federal government, the only controls on the wolf
population available to us are lethal control on wolves that are
verified depredators on domestic animals by DNR or U.S. Department of
Agriculture Wildlife Services,” says Adrian Wydeven, a DNR
mammalian ecologist.
Wolves were listed as a state
endangered species in 1975, when wolves from Minnesota began to move
back into Wisconsin, after having been absent from the state for 15
years. The wolf population grew gradually, and in 1980 there were about
25 wolves in the state, but declined to only 15 in 1985 due to disease.
“Since 1985, the wolf population
has seen a steady increase, averaging 20 percent annual growth through
1990s and into early 2000. In the last few years the rate of growth has
declined, and the lack of increase in packs indicates that the spread of
the wolf population may be starting to slow down,” Wydeven
says.
Wolves were reclassified as a state
threatened species in Wisconsin in 1999, and on August 1, 2004, were
removed from the state list of threatened and endangered wildlife and
listed as Protected Wild Animals.
The federal government also downlisted
wolves to a threatened status in 2003, which gave the state of Wisconsin
greater authority in managing wolves. In summer 2004, the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, indicated the start of a process to delist wolves in
Wisconsin and other portions of eastern US, with intent to complete the
process by summer 2005. Delisting would have returned all management
authority on wolves to the State of Wisconsin.
A federal judge’s decision in
Oregon on Jan. 31, 2005 reversed the earlier classification to
threatened, and re-listed wolves as endangered by the federal government
in Wisconsin and other states. The judicial decision also put the whole
federal delisting effort on hold.
With the growth of Wisconsin’s
wolf population, depredation on livestock in the state has also
increased.
In 2002 wolves depredated on
livestock on eight farms, in 2003 on 14 farms, and in 2004 on 22 farms.
The threatened classification in 2003 and 2004, allowed DNR and
USDA-Wildlife Service to euthanize wolves that had killed domestic
animals. Lethal control was used on 17 wolves in 2003 and 24 in 2004.
“The fact that there was a 14
percent increase in the population is a clear indication that limited
lethal control of depredating wolves hasn’t had an adverse impact on
recovery of Wisconsin’s wolf population,” says Ron Refsnider,
Midwest wolf recovery coordinator for USFWS. “It also shows tat
the recent issuance of a permit to the DNR to conduct similar control
actions is appropriate under the Endangered Species
Act.”
Because wolves are now again listed as
endangered, the DNR recently obtained a special permit for the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct some limited lethal control on
wolves that are verified as depredators on livestock.
Officials from the Wisconsin DNR, as
well as Michigan and Minnesota DNR are appealing to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to resume the delisting effort for the three Great
Lakes states, and return full management to the states within the near
future.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Adrian
Wydeven – 715-762-4684 ext. 107