Wolf numbers continue to escalate
By Jim Lee
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
MADISON – Wisconsin’s winter wolf population increased 25 percent from a
year ago, continuing a trend expected to lessen protection of a species
considered endangered just three years ago.
A minimum count over winter 2001-02 consisted of 323 to 339 wolves in 81
packs and eight to nine loners, according to a Department of Natural
Resources report.
A year ago, the state winter wolf population was estimated at 257.
“A population of 350 wolves in Wisconsin represents the desired management
population, and once the population exceeds this level, pro-active
controls and possibly a public harvest can be considered,” the DNR report
said.
Wolves were reclassified from endangered to threatened status by state
officials in 1999.
A population of 80 or more wolves for three or more years was the criteria
for state and federal reclassification to threatened.
Federal criteria for removing the animals from threatened protected status
required a population of at least 100 wolves in Wisconsin and Michigan
combined for at least five years.
“The combined state populations have been at this level since 1994 and
currently are approaching 600 wolves,” the DNR said, adding that the
federal delisting process should begin soon.
The state goal for delisting is 250 wolves outside Indian reservations.
As a result, “the state process to delist wolves will probably start in
fall or this winter,” said Adrian Wydeven, a DNR biologist working with
the wolf recovery program.
Wisconsin’s wolf population has increased at a 20 percent rate since 1985.