Duluth Tribune News


Wolves across the Lower 48 states were hunted, trapped and poisoned to near-extinction for centuries after European settlement until they gained federal protection in 1975. By then only about 500 wolves remained in the Lower 48 states, all of them in Northeastern Minnesota.

There are now an estimated 6,000 gray wolves (sometimes called eastern or timber wolves) roaming in the Lower 48 states, including about 2,700 in Minnesota, more than 1,000 in Wisconsin and more than 500 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Wolves have been technically listed as “threatened’’ for most of the last 40 years in Minnesota, which has allowed limited, targeted trapping of wolves by the U.S. Department of Agriculture near where pets and livestock have been killed. That program has killed about 200 wolves each year in Minnesota even under their protected status. Wolves have been listed as “endangered’’ in Wisconsin and Michigan and no lethal control has been allowed since 2014.

Other stable populations are located in the Rocky Mountain west and Pacific Northwest. Colorado voters next week will decide whether their state should reintroduce wolves to that ecosystem. The proposal would not impact Mexican gray wolves, which are listed separately under the Endangered Species Act. The estimated 12,000 gray wolves in Alaska also are not impacted by the move.