Select a Location
Pakistan at a glance
Main prey for wolves here are gazelle and livestock.
This paper says that “the grey wolf (Canis lupus) has been extirpated from most of its historic range in Pakistan primarily due to its impact on livestock and livelihoods.”
The same paper goes on to say:
Wolf populations in Pakistan have suffered population declines and range contraction. They are now confined to remote, barren, mountainous regions and extensive deserts. Numerous factors are thought to be responsible for their decline. The expansion of agricultural practices and land conversion has caused habitat loss. The movement of herders up the altitudinal gradient because of climate warming has further reduced available habitat and increased the impact of retaliatory killings of wolves. These predators move to lower altitudes during heavy snowfall, further increasing the chances of being killed due to livestock depredation.
This paper also sheds light on wolves in Pakistan:
To date, research on the grey wolf in Pakistan has been very limited. … Mech and Boitani (2003) estimated that just 200 wolves remained in Pakistan. The range of the grey wolf extends from the southern mountains of Balochistan to the northern border, i.e. Chitral, Gilgit and Baltistan (Roberts 1997), inhabiting tropical thorn forest, tropical dry scrubland, sub-tropical scrubland and hot desert. Wolf populations have experienced both numerical declines and a 80-90 percent range contraction in Pakistan (Mech and Boitani 2003, Sheikh and Malour 2005.”
The population decline is due in large part to livestock depredation, which is also cited in this paper, which reads, in part:
“An analysis on scats revealed 52% contribution from livestock (with goats and sheep being the preferred prey) and 48% from wild prey. Biomass consumption showed gray wolf relied heavily on domestic prey (88%) during the summer season, resulting in human conflict with 28 wolves killed in response to livestock depredation during 2016–2017, requiring immediate conservation measures to save its remaining population.”
Species Information
Species
Common Name: gray wolf
Latin Name: Canis lupus
Subspecies
Common Name:
Latin Name: Canis lupus pallipes
Current Wolf Population, Trend, Status
Number of wolves: Estimated at 200
Population trend: Decreasing
Legal protection: Full protection
This page was last updated in 2020.
Additional Information
- Habitat suitability and movement corridors of grey wolf in Northern Pakistan
- Grew wolf in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan: distribution, abundance and persecution
- Distribution, diet menu and human conflict of grey wolf in Mahoodand Valley, Swat District, Pakistan
- Origin, ecology and human conflict of gray wolf in Suleman Range, South Waziristan, Pakistan
- Himalayan wolf discovered to be a unique wolf adapted to harsh high altitude life
