From Wyoming Public Media:
State legislatures in Montana and Idaho have recently passed policies that increase the number of wolves that can be harvested, and methods to harvest.
Both Montana and Idaho wolf populations are much higher than Wyoming’s. Currently, the state population is just above the minimum population requirement set by the federal government, when the wolves were taken off Endangered Species Act protections.
From IllinoisNewsToday.com:
Scientists have found that wolves, which are well-distanced from humans, tend to avoid nasty viruses.
In a study of more than 2,000 gray wolves from the suburbs of Mexico to northern Canada, researchers found that the farther the wolf was from humans, the fewer viruses and parasites it encountered.
From CHPost.DK in Denmark:
Researchers are concerned by recent findings that mortality rates amongst Danish wolves are a staggering 10 times above normal.
A new study by Aarhus University (AU) entitled ‘Where have all the young wolves gone?’ calculates the current life-expectancy of a Danish wolf to be just two years. Almost half the population have disappeared without trace since 2012.
From the Union-Bulletin in Washington:
There are a minimum of 178 wolves in Washington, according to new information from state and tribal biologists published in late April.
Washington’s wolf population grew at least 24% between 2019 and 2020, despite the death of 16 wolves to legal hunting, lethal removal in response to conflict and natural mortality. There were 29 packs and 16 successful breeding pairs statewide.
From PublicNewsService.org:
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Opposition to wolf hunts in Wisconsin is becoming more visible, and not only in public hearings or on social media. Drivers might soon notice how some hunters feel about wolves.
A new coalition, calling itself Hunters for Wolves, is behind a trio of billboards installed along roadways in northern Wisconsin. Organizers want to call attention to what they see as ethical concerns as the state prepares to update its wolf management plan.
From Wisconsin Public Radio:
More than 100 scientists have signed a letter asking the Biden administration to restore federal protections for the gray wolf.
The Trump administration announced last fall that it would remove the animal from the endangered species list across most of the country beginning in January, prompting lawsuits from environmental and wildlife groups to restore the protections. The Biden administration has said it’s reviewing the delisting, along with other agency decisions as part of a broad executive order issued in January.
From the Southern Environmental Law Center:
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Red wolf captive breeding facilities today announced the release of four rare red wolves into the wild in North Carolina, after conservation groups won a federal court ruling in January that required the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare a plan to release captive red wolves into the wild to avoid irreversible harm to the highly endangered population during ongoing litigation. The facilities also reported the fostering of four red wolf pups with a female wild red wolf in North Carolina.
From National Geographic:
Montana is making it easier to kill wildlife in the state, with a suite of bills and new laws that threatens to undermine 30 years of wolf recovery and establish new hunting standards that even many hunters say is too permissive.
New state laws will allow hunters to kill an unlimited number of wolves, to bait them and hunt them at night, and to set neck snare traps; and will expand the wolf trapping season by 30 days and allow hound hunting of black bears. One law incentivizes trapping by allowing sportsmen’s organizations to pay bounties to hunters who kill wolves—a practice that critics note harkens back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the draw of government bounties drove hunters to exterminate the animals from the state.
From WUWM.com:
Perhaps no creature on the Wisconsin landscape elicits more extreme reactions than the gray wolf.
The once nearly extinct population has rebounded, and while some believe there should be no wolf hunting season, a 2011 Wisconsin state law requires an annual harvest unless the wolf is under federal protection. The debate has intensified this year after a very brief and chaotic hunt happened in February, which saw 218 wolves killed, surpassing the quota by over 80% in under 72 hours.
From phys.org:
A young male gray wolf crossed into far Northern California early this month—joining another wolf that trekked into the state in late January and made an epic journey south.
The latest wolf to arrive in California—called OR-103—was outfitted with a GPS collar in Deschutes County, Oregon. He entered northeastern Siskiyou County on May 4, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.