North Dakota
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North Dakota at a glance
Gray wolves once existed throughout North Dakota but their elimination began shortly after the European settlers arrived. Occasional wolf sightings occur, but no breeding pairs or packs have been identified.
However, due to the close proximity of viable wolf populations in Minnesota, Montana and Canada, wolves may return to North Dakota in the future.
According to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, wolves could return to portions of their former range in the Dakotas. “However, the agricultural dominated landscape (cropland, hayland and pasture) and relatively high densities of roads would facilitate negative encounters between wolves and humans, which could preclude their re-establishment,” they write.
The department continues: “The greatest hindrance to recolonization of wolves in North Dakota is their vulnerability to killing by humans. For example, the major documented threat to wolves in the Dakotas was killing by humans due to allegedly mistaken identity as coyotes. Licht and Fritts (1990) noted that relatively high road densities in eastern North Dakota would increase the likelihood of wolf-vehicle collisions. Furthermore, human tolerance for wolves likely would be low because livestock production is a major industry in North Dakota.”
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