Wolves
Wolf History, Conservation, Ecology and Behavior
[www.wolfology.com]
Wolf Populations
Arizona/
New Mexico
Idaho
Isle Royale
Michigan
Minnesota
Montana
North Carolina
(red wolf)
Wisconsin
Yellowstone
1970
18
750
1970
1975
41
1,000
1975
1980
50
1,200
25
1980
1985
22
1,400
14
15
1985
1990
15
1,500
48
34
1990
1995
15
16
80
2,000
70
55
83
14
1995
1996
30
22
116
2,200
82
99
43
1996
1997
68
24
112
2,300
75
148
54
1997
1998
11
75
24
140
2,450
75
75
178
80
1998
1999
6
122
25
174
2,500
65
205
116
1999
2000
21
141
29
216
2,600
63
248
118
2000
2001
32
185
19
249
2,600
107
75
251
140
2001
2002
19
261
17
280
2,600
84
100
320
218
2002

International-1999*
1995
1999
Albania
?
250
Belarus
?
?
Bosnia/
Herzegovina

<400

800
Bangladesh
?
10
Bulgaria
?
800
Canada
55,000
62,000
Croatia
35
75
Czech Rep.
20
Estonia
?
500
Finland
?
150
France
10
35
Germany
10
<10
Greece
?
200
Greenland
75
50
Hungary
?
50
India
?
1,500
Israel
<150
<150
Italy
400
450
Latvia
?
900
Lithuania
?
600
Macedonia
350
1,000
Mongolia
20,000
25,000
Norway
?
5-10
PRC (China)
4,000
6,000
Poland
850
1,000
Portugal
250
250
Romania
2,500
2,500
Russia
28,000
30,000
Saudi Arabia
600
600
Slovakia
350
350
Slovenia
20
50
Spain
?
2,000
Sweden
?
50
Switzerland
?
5
Ukraine
?
2,500
Yugoslav Fed.
?
<500
Abyssinian wolf; Ethiopia: 550 (1999)
* figures from 1999 World Wolf Status Report,
  Bill Route & Linda Aylsworth
Current distribution (with former distribution shown by speckled areas)

I have correlated the information below from data derived from 1998, 1999 and 2000 reports. If any errors have
been made, please contact me at wolfology@lycos.com.
United States
Alaska
Subspecies: ligoni, pambasileus, tundrarum, alces. Status: viable, numbering 5,227- 8,060. Range occupied. 100%. Main prey: moose, caribou, sheep, deer, beaver. Legal status: animals are hunted and trapped in limited seasons with bag limits. Approximately 1,000 wolves are legally killed every year.
Canada
Alberta
Subspecies: occidentalis, griseoalbus, irremotus, nubilus. Status: fully viable, numbering approximately 6,000. Range occupied: 80%. Main prey: moose, caribou, sheep, deer, beaver, goat, elk, bison. Legal status: furbearer, protected in national and provincial parks. Up to 200 wolves are killed annually by shooting or trapping.
British Columbia
Subspecies: crassodon, fuscus, columbianus, mackenzii, occidentalis, tundrarum, ligoni, irremotus. Status: fully viable, numbering approximately 8,000. Range occupied: 80%. Main prey: moose, caribou, sheep, deer, beaver, goat, elk. Legal status: game species, furbearer, no closed season. Approximately 750 wolves are killed annually, mostly by hunters.
Labrador (Newfoundland)
Subspecies: labradorius. Status: fully viable, 3,000. Range occupied: 95 %. Main prey: moose, caribou, beaver, musk ox, hares. Legal status: furbearer; about 30 wolves are killed by trappers annually. Biologists expect wolves to recolonize Newfoundland, where they were eradicated, by swimming the Strait of Belle Isle.
Northwest Territories
Subspecies: arctos, bernardi, columbianus, griseoalbus, hudsonicus, mackenzii, nubilus, occidentalis, pambasileus. Status: fully viable, numbering 10,000. Range occupied: 100%. Main prey: moose caribou, sheep, deer, beaver, goat. Legal status: forbearer. According to wolf biologist Paul Paquet, approximately 2,000 wolf skins were exported from the Northwest Territories in 1997.
Ontario, Quebec
Subspecies: lycaon, hudsonicus, labradorius. Status: fully viable, 9,000 (Ontario) & 6,000 (Quebec). Range occupied: 80%. Main prey: moose,deer, caribou, beaver. Legal status: furbearer, protected (Quebec) in provincial and national parks.
Saskatchewan, Manitoba
Subspecies: hudsonicus, griseoalbus, irremotus, nubilis. Status: fully viable, 4,300 (Saskatchewan) & 4,000 (Manitoba). Range occupied: 70%. Main prey: moose, elk, deer, beaver, bison, caribou. Legal status: furbearer.
Yukon
Status: Viable, 4,500. About 175-200 wolves are killed annually during legal season.
Afghanistan
Subspecies: pallipes, chanco. Status: viable, suspected decline, 1,000? individuals. Range occupied: 90%. Main prey: unknown. Legal status: unknown. Cause of decline: unknown.
Albania
Subspecies: lupus. Status: viable, 250. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: unknown. Legal status: unknown. Cause of decline: unknown.
Arabian Peninsula
Subspecies: pallipes, arabs. Status: lingering, 600-700 individuals. Range occupied: 90%. Main prey: garbage, carrion, livestock. Legal status: no protection, can be legally hunted. Cause of decline: persecution.
Bhutan
Subspecies: chanco. Status: unknown. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: unknown. Legal status: protected. Cause of decline: unknown.
Bulgaria
Subspecies: lupus. Status: viable, 800-1,000 individuals. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: (moose) roe deer, red deer, wild boar, mufflon. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction. From 300 to 500 wolves are killed annually, too high a mortality rate to be sustained.
China
Subspecies: chanco. Status: extermination efforts active, population numbers: 6,000 (4,000 estimated in 1990). Range occupied: 20% (western and northern regions). Main prey: saiga, other ungulates, livestock. Legal status: protected. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction. The Chines government announced plans in 1998 to set aside a 100,000 square-mile refuge for wolves in the Daxinganglin Mountains of Inner Mongolia. Wolves from Daxinganglin have been suggested as candidates for a proposed reintroduction program in Japan, where the Sika deer population is exploding.
Czech Republic
Subspecies: lupus. Status: steep decline/ lingering, ? Individuals. Highly threatened or endangered. Range occupied: 10%. Main prey: roe deer, red deer, wild boar, mufflon. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction. Legal status: protected, but the entire population of 18 wolves were wiped out in 1996-97; any that inhabit this country now are dispersers from Slovakia.
Egypt
Subspecies: arabs. Status: 30 individuals. Highly endangered. Range (Sinai) occupied: 90%. Main prey: hares, livestock. Legal status: no protection. Cause of decline: persecution.
Finland
Subspecies: lupus. Status: lingering, 140 individuals. Endangered. Range occupied: < 10%. Legal status: can be hunted November through March (north), protected (south). Main Prey: moose, reindeer, . white-tailed deer, livestock. Cause of decline: persecution.
France
Subspecies: lupus. Status: recolonizing, but not stable; 15. The last native wolf was killed in 1958, but the current population has come from Italy.
Greece
Subspecies: lupus. Status: in decline, 200 individuals (500 estimated in 1990). Range occupied: 60%. Main prey: deer, wild boar, chamois, livestock. Legal status: partial protection. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction.
Greenland
Subspecies: orion. Status: recovering, 100 individuals. Threatened. Range occupied: northern and eastern Greenland. Main prey: musk-ox, caribou. Legal status: completely protected. Cause of decline: persecution. Wolves were eradicated in the 1930s, but Greenland was repopulated by two wolves from Ellesmere Island in 1978
Hungary
Subspecies: lupus. Status: 50 individuals. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: unknown. Legal status: protected. Cause of decline: unknown.
India
Subspecies: pallipes. Status: lingering, probably only lone wolves or pairs, 2,700 individuals. Endangered. Range occupied: 20%. Main prey: livestock, hare, deer, antelope. Legal status: unenforced full protection. Cause of decline: decreasing prey, persecution.
Iran
Subspecies: pallipes, campestris. Status: fully viable, numbering >1000. Range occupied: 80%. Main prey: gazelle, mountain sheep, livestock, wild boar, deer, Capra sp. Legal status: Game species. Cause of decline: persecution.
Iraq
Subspecies: unknown. Status: unknown. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: unknown. Legal status: unknown. Cause of decline: unknown.
Israel
Subspecies: pallipes, arabs. Status: lingering, low population density, 100-150 individuals. Highly threatened. Range occupied: 60%. Main prey: hares, livestock, carrion. Legal status: full protection. Cause of decline: habitat destruction, persecution.
Italy
Subspecies: lupus. Status: becoming viable, 450 individuals (250 in 1987,Boitani). Highly threatened. Range occupied: 10%. Main prey: garbage, livestock. Legal status: full protection. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction, prey extermination.
Jordan
Subspecies: unknown. Status: lingering, 200 individuals. Highly threatened. Range occupied: 90%. Legal status: no protection. Main prey: unknown. Cause of decline: persecution.
Kazakstan
Status: 9,000 individuals. There may be as many as 3,000 wolves in Kyrgyzstan and 1,000 in Uzbekistan, but a bounty system persists, and hunting continues.
Lebanon
Subspecies: unknown. Status: lone wolves or pairs, >10 individuals. Highly endangered. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: garbage, carrion. Legal status: no Protection. Cause of decline: persecution.
Mexico
Subspecies: baileyi. Status: lone wolves or pairs, <10 individuals. Highly endangered. Range occupied: <10%. Main prey: livestock. Legal status: unenforced full protection. Cause of decline: persecution and habitat destruction. Wolf sightings regularly occur in Mexico, but there have been no documented sightings since the 1970s.
Mongolia
Subspecies: chanco. Status: viable; 30,000 individuals. Range occupied: 100%. Main prey: livestock, saiga. Legal status: extermination efforts active.
Nepal
Subspecies: chanco. Status: lingering, 500 individuals. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: unknown. Leg status: unprotected. Cause of decline: unknown.
Pakistan
Subspecies: pallipes, campestris. Status: lingering, 600 individuals. Range occupied: mountainous northern region. Main prey: unknown. Legal status: unprotected. Cause of decline: unknown.
Poland
Subspecies: lupus, campestris. Status: fully viable, numbering approximately 1,000 (850 estimated in 1990). Range occupied: 90%. Main prey: (moose), roe deer, red deer, wild boar, mufflon. Legal status: full protection. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction.
Portugal
Subspecies: signatus, (lupus). Status: viable, 900 individuals. Highly threatened. Range occupied: 20%. Main prey: livestock, roe deer, wild boar. Legal status: partial protection. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction.
Romania
Subspecies: lupus. Status: lingering, possibly in decline, 2,500 individuals. Range occupied: 20%. Main prey: roe deer, red deer, wild boar, mufflon. Legal status: Protected, but large numbers are illegally killed. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction.
Russia
Status: 30,000. Range occupied: unknown. Main prey: unknown. Cause of decline: persecution. Legal status: considered vermin, but hunting has decreased since the Soviet days.In 1998 the Agriculture Ministry put up $10 million to slaughter up to 15,000 wolves in the next several years.
Slovakia
Status: in decline, 250 individuals.Cause of decline: persecution and habitat loss. Legal status: Officially protected, but still hunted. In 1995-96, 150 wolves were killed in a 12-month period, a mortality rate too high to be sustained.
Spain
Subspecies: signatus, (lupus). Status: lingering, low population density, 2,000 individuals (1,000 estimated in 1990). Threatened. Range occupied: 10%. Main prey: livestock, roe deer, wild boar. Legal status: partial protection, classified as game animals. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction. Approximately 700 wolves are killed, legally or otherwise, every year, which is too high a number to be sustained.
Sweden, Norway
Subspecies: lupus. Status: recolonizing, 70 individuals. Highly endangered. Range ccupied: <10%. Main prey: moose, reindeer, livestock. Legal status: Full protection in both countries. Cause of decline: persecution. Norway and Sweden share a population, with approximately one-third of the wolves denning in Norway.
Syria
Subspecies: lupus, pallipes. Status: lingering, low population density, 300 individuals. Highly threatened. Range occupied: 10%. Main prey: livestock, carrion, small wildlife. Legal status: no protection. Cause of decline: persecution.
Turkey
Subspecies: lupus, pallipes. Status: Viable, but in decline. Unknown number of individuals. Range occupied: the mountainous eastern region. Main prey: livestock, unknown. Legal status: no protection.
Yugoslavia
Subspecies: lupus. Status: steep decline, approximately 500 individuals. Range occupied: 55 %. Main prey: deer, wild boar, chamois, livestock. Legal status: partial protection. Cause of decline: persecution, habitat destruction.