The gray wolf population in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Utah, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan has recovered enough since being listed as endangered in 1974 to be removed from the list of species that are threatened and endangered.
Secrectary of the Interior Ken Salazaar concurred with the January decison of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the animal.
Salazaar said of the animal’s rejuvenation, “When it was listed as endangered in 1974, the wolf had almost disappeared from the continental United States. Today, we have more than 5,500 wolves, including more than 1,600 in the Rockies.” In Wyoming the gray wolf will retain a protected status under the Endangered Species Act, due to that state not yet establishing its own protection plan.
In the western Great Lakes region, Minnesota has the largest population with about 2,900. Wisconsin and northern Michigan each have about 500. Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have an estimated 1,600, but only 95 breeding pairs. Approximately 390 wolves have been killed by government officials to manage the populations, and about the same number have been killed illegally.
Wolves in other parts of the country, such as the Southwest, will remain on the list of endangered species.
Image Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain
