The gray wolf’s primary threat comes from people. Ranchers kill wolves because they threaten roaming livestock, hunters shoot them for sport, and rural communities view them as a nuisance and a pest (PBS 2008). They can also die from natural threats like disease; fights with bears, elk, and other wolves; and overloading carrying capacity in a region. However, these threats do minor damage to their population, effectively keeping them at a sustainable size, while the threat from humans proves a much more daunting obstacle (PBS 2008).
According to the study by Treves, et al., “For jurisdictions elsewhere, we caution that science may play little role in wolf politics where the animal has become a symbol for political rhetoric and a symbol of cultural divisions.” This cultural and political polarization of the wolf makes conservation difficult and proves a major threat to their continued existence. Gray wolves are sandwiched between federal protection and state hostility (Brunskotter, et al. 2011). Even in light of the decades-long conservation battle to protect wolves, the conflict of interest between ranchers and conservationists, as well as state and federal agencies, leaves them in a precarious place. According to an article by Brunskotter, et al. 2011, “Utah’s director of the Department of Natural Resources compared wolf restoration to a ‘resurrection of the T. rex,’ and asserted that wolves were a ‘biological weapon’ used to end sport hunting.” When wolves are delisted, these states inherit their conservation and management from the federal government.
Among others, the methods outlined by the state officials in Wisconsin provide dubious claims for maintaining the existing population size of wolves from pre-delisting (Treves, et al. 2021). And it’s not just Wisconsin. In September 2021, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife authorized the killing of 6 more wolves from the Lookout Mountain pack, which is estimated to have only around 9 pack members (Defenders of Wildlife 2021). State interests don’t necessarily lie with the ESA and the protection of this keystone species, and can mean that the journey to full recovery is still further down the line.
