Defenders' Experts
Wolf Facts
Get the facts on wolves! Learn about wolf biology and social traits, ways that they benefit the environment and more!
Fact Sheets
Wolf size, weight, colorings, behavior, status and more can be learned in these colorful fact sheets. Complete with sounds, videos and more.
Gray Wolf | Red Wolf | Mexican Wolf
Biology and Taxonomy
Find answers to commons questions about wolf biology, communication, hunting, taxonomy and evolution.
Why Restore Wolves?
Wolf restoration efforts help to ensure the wolf's long-term survival, contribute to a healthy ecosystem and provide cultural benefits.
Resources
Ever wonder about how big a role wolves play in livestock losses or in tourism income? Did you know many parts of the country have anti-wolf laws on their books?
- Wolf Predation Plays Small Role in Livestock: Losses in 2005
- Wolf Ecotourism – Conserving Wildlife and Boosting Local Economies
- Fact Sheet Listing Anti-wolf Laws in the U.S.
- Defenders' Efforts on Wolves in the Northern Rockies
6 Things You Should Know about Wolves
- You stand a better chance of being struck by lightening than being killed by a wolf.
In general, wolves fear humans and do not approach them. In fact, very few incidents involving wolves attacking humans have occurred in North America. Those rare occurrences were reportedly caused because wolves associated humans as a source for food like garbage or scraps, or because a wolf was likely reacting to the presence of dogs (McNay 2002). To prevent conflicts with wildlife, people must act responsibly by never feeding or approaching wild animals or take other actions that cause wild animals to lose fear of humans. Learn more about coexisting with carnivores.
- Wolves and large grazing animals lived side-by-side for tens of thousands of years before the first settlers arrived.
Recent studies on Yellowstone elk and wolves have found that weather and hunter harvest affect elk declines more than wolf predation. In fact, wolves often enhance prey populations by culling weak and sick animals from the gene pool, leaving only the strongest animals to reproduce. Food availability and weather regulate wolf populations. When their prey is scarce, wolves suffer too. They breed less frequently, have fewer litters, and may even starve to death. - Wildlife tourism is a major part of the economic base of the northern Rockies.
For instance, in the counties around Yellowstone National Park , livestock production accounts for less than 4% of personal income, while tourism-related industries account for more than 50%. Moreover the effect of wolves on the livestock industry as a whole is negligible, with wolves accounting for less than 1% of livestock losses. - In portions of the northern Rockies and Southwest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) designated wolves as "experimental, nonessential" populations.
This special designation gave landowners a limited right to kill wolves caught in the act of preying on livestock on private property and increased the ability of FWS to remove or destroy problem wolves. Since 1978, wolves, listed as threatened in Minnesota, have been managed under a special regulation that controls individuals that kill livestock and pets. - According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, very few land use restrictions have proven necessary to facilitate wolf recovery in Montana and Minnesota.
The service reports that land use restrictions are necessary only if illegal mortality of wolves occurs at high levels. - Numerous polls taken throughout the United States consistently demonstrate that more people support wolf recovery than oppose it.
In fact, a 2002 quantitative summary of human attitudes towards wolves found that 61% of the general population samples had positive attitudes towards wolves.
Works Cited: McNay, Mark E. A Case History of Wolf-Human Encounters in Alaska and Canada. 2002. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Wildlife Technical Bulletin 13.
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