Wisconsin’s gray wolf population grew in 2012
gray wolf (Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region) PARK FALLS, Wis. -- Wisconsin’s gray wolf population at the close of the 2011-2012 winter was estimated to be 815-880, a roughly 4 percent increase over the 2010-2011 end-of-winter estimate. A total of 41-42 wolves were counted on Native American reservations and thus the total count of wolves outside of reservations was 774-838 wolves. A late winter population of 350 wolves outside reservations is the current state wolf population goal for Wisconsin. Wolves in Wisconsin were removed from the federal endangered species list on January 27, 2012, and management authority was returned to the states and tribes for gray wolves living in the Western Great Lakes. Since 2004, the State of Wisconsin listed the gray wolf as a protected wild animal, and on April 2, 2012 it was designated a game species. The Department of Natural Resources is developing rules to allow a public wolf hunting and trap...