Wolf Working Group

Wolves are increasing in number and range almost everywhere. With the exception of a small population in southern Spain (Sierra Morena: probably extinct), all other wolf populations show positive demographic and distribution trends.

The most difficult aspect of wolf management is managing the increasing conflicts with farmers and, to a limited extent, hunters. Conflicts are especially difficult to manage in areas of recent recolonization such as in France, Italy, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands.

The key issue is not biological but social as we struggle to position the wolf as a permanent, though extensively managed, component of the rural life. So far, wolf populations have been increasing but leaving this trend unmanaged risks to compromise the support for wolves and may cause negative backlashes.

Wolves across Asia receive little conservation and research attention to date. Wolf populations have declined or remained stable in most regions of Asia, however extensive data is often lacking. Persecution, illegal wildlife trade and lack of conservation awareness and research data remain the most important threats for wolves in Asia.

Wolf populations are stable or modestly increasing in numbers and range. In the Great Lakes Region (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan) wolves are still protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and in the Northern Rocky Mountains (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho) liberal management aims to hold population sizes and distribution at current levels, but recent population updates suggest declining populations probably due to disease and overharvest. In the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington) wolf populations are increasing in size and distribution and the population is increasing in California. Management schemes are being considered to accommodate local stakeholders and others that value wolves on the landscape.

Concern and confusion persist about the continued relevance of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) to wolf management and conservation in these areas. Despite the biological security of the grey wolf in the Great Lakes Region, they are a listed species. A concerted recovery effort under the ESA remains in place for the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi).

The key issues in the U.S. are social: developing efforts to promote co-existence between wolves and humans (livestock and wild ungulates) determining the proper role of the ESA for promoting conservation of the species.

Wolf populations are secure across most of Canada due to low human population densities across much of the northern provinces and territories. Management strategies vary by jurisdiction and provide for indigenous use and overall allow for liberal take. Localized issues are concerning, particularly wolf reduction programs to conserve mountain caribou populations in the western provinces, which are declining due to industrial development.

The Wolf Working Group, through the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE), is active on all aspects of wolf conservation in Europe (see the LCIE website for a list of reports and publications: lcie.org). The recent (2025) downlisting of the wolf to a lower level of protection by the Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive has opened the door to extensive revision of the level of protection by several European countries. New management plans are being designed and tested, most of them aiming at reducing the number of wolves through hunting and culling although countries are still bound to maintain their wolf populations in Favourable Conservation Status. LCIE has worked in support of the European Commission to prepare background documentation helping the assessment of national policies. The EU Platform for Large Carnivore Conservation remains the only venue for discussing management options for all four species of carnivores (wolf, bear, lynx and wolverine) and IUCN/SSC/LCIE is an active member of the initiative.

Members of the Wolf Group in the continental United States are active in many efforts to advance research and conservation in the Great Lakes States and the Northern Rocky Mountains despite different listing status (listed in Lake States, delisted in northern Rockies). Oregon and Washington wolves are delisted in the eastern portions of the state and being actively managed for livestock conflicts. In California wolves are federally protected and expanding in range and increasing in abundance where conflicts with livestock are on the increase. Wolf recovery in the US southwest is sputtering under a bi-national plan; wolf numbers in Mexico are not increasing and population in New Mexico and Arizona have increased but recovery is uncertain mostly due to inadequate range and metapopulation structure.

Wolf populations are most secure in Canada world-wide so very little conservation action is directed there other than attention to the wolf-mountain caribou management issues. Barren-ground caribou populations are also at low population levels across northern Canada which is not due to wolves, although more aggressive wolf harvest (and government subsidies) does occur in localized areas in response to low caribou numbers.

In Asia, activities focus on improving 1) wolf research and data availability, 2) wolf conservation awareness, and 3) enforcing legal protection of wolves. The recent new Red List assessments for the Indian and Himalayan wolf provide important data foundations and conservation threat assessments for two of Asia’s most ancient wolf populations.

• Ensure that wolves are managed at population level, not by administrative units (country, province, etc.). This is especially important in Europe where countries are small and most wolf populations are transboundary.
• Work more on the social and economic aspects of the farmer-wolf interface to ensure lasting coexistence. It is important to consider the costs and benefits for all stakeholders, to put wolves in the correct perspective within the overall economy of the livestock industry (cost of conflicts, social stress, incentives and subsidies to maintain livestock, etc.)
• Insist on the concept of coexistence between wolves and humans that could allow, through active management, to have wolves over large parts of Europe with tolerable conflicts. As the Habitats Directive does not allow to declare “no-wolf” zones, we must insist on the concept of coexistence as a workable compromise between wolves and humans and show how to reach this goal.

• Ensure that wolves are considered at the population level to allow continued application of effective conservation and management schemes.
• Research efforts to clarify the social and economic aspects of wolf-livestock conflicts to ensure that the consequences of depredations are not excessively inflated.
• Advance the concept of coexistence between wolves and humans as an achievable outcome that through active management would allow wolves to occupy much suitable but currently unoccupied habitat in the continental US.
• Engage in wolf recovery in the US southwest by productively engaging the federal government to consider expanding wolf range and de-couple recovery criteria from Mexico.
• Advance research to clarify the proper role of the Endangered Species Act for promoting wolf recovery and conservation.

• Given Canada is the world stronghold for wolves, maintain wolf habitat security and engage indigenous cultures in joint wolf management.
• Advance research in a ‘pristine’ environment as a scientific baseline.
• The persistence of mountain caribou populations in the west now depends on wolf control each winter, a dubious policy given that caribou declines are well researched and due to industrial development and not wolf predation. Continued attention is therefore warranted as wolf control is slated to occur into the future for several decades until habitat for caribou recovers (e.g., forest growth).

• Scientific research on status, phylogeny, genetic structure, ecology and behaviour is required across Asia where this information is lacking and is required for conservation management of surviving wolf populations.
• Due to regionally high human densities, habitat encroachment and wolf-livestock conflict the rare and ancient wolf lineages of the Indian and Himalayan wolf are under threat, as are the other less studied wolf populations of Asia. Governments need to be encouraged to enforce strict protection through law enforcement, and conservation measures through livestock compensation schemes, securing breeding habitats, monitoring population status of wolves and raising wolf conservation awareness.
• Russia seems to be another stronghold for wolves globally, however their current conservation and population status is uncertain. More research and conservation knowledge for the wolf populations across Russia is needed.