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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

	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)

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.