{"id":152580,"date":"2025-09-12T23:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T23:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/152580\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T23:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T23:28:12","slug":"wisconsin-wolf-population-up-to-1200-under-revised-estimates-improved-tracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/152580\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin wolf population up to 1,200 under revised estimates, improved tracking"},"content":{"rendered":"

State wildlife regulators say Wisconsin\u2019s wolf population has grown to more than 1,200<\/a> and appears to be stabilizing, according to revised population estimates.<\/p>\n

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources presented the revised estimates Thursday at the first meeting of its wolf advisory committee since a 2014 federal court ruling<\/a> placed wolves back on the endangered species list.<\/p>\n

The agency monitors wolves through winter surveys of tracks, live trapping and monitoring of GPS collars. The DNR previously estimated the state had about 1,000 wolves<\/a> in 2023, but the agency didn\u2019t produce an over-winter population estimate last year due to a lack of snow and collar failures.<\/p>\n

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Since then, the agency has switched collar companies and made improvements to its monitoring and population models, said Lydia Margenau, the DNR\u2019s wildlife population monitoring and modeling research scientist. The revised population estimate for this year is based on a likely range between 1,087 and 1,379 wolves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current population remains nearly as large and widespread as it\u2019s been in modern time,\u201d Margenau said. \u201cAll biological indicators point to a secure and healthy population.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 150 state and federal staff, tribal partners and volunteers conducted a record 564 winter track surveys spanning more than 18,000 miles. Wildlife regulators said their analysis of the data shows the population is at a point where it\u2019s no longer expanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe population is really settling in where we would anticipate it,\u201d Margenau said.<\/p>\n

DNR research has previously found the state has a biological carrying capacity of 1,242 wolves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Randy Johnson, large carnivore specialist with the DNR, said the number of wolves is leveling off due to a number of factors, including availability of prime habitat. As those areas fill up, the animals are forced into subpar habitat, which reduces their ability to survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically a combination of running out of space and some of these internal mechanisms of increased mortality, lower pup survival, things like that,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\"LineThe over-winter population of wolves in Wisconsin is more than 1,200 wolves, according to revised estimates. Screenshot of Wisconsin DNR population estimates<\/p>\n

He added other factors such as illegal kills might also limit the wolf population. The DNR recorded 12 wolves that were killed illegally or a third of the 36 deaths detected during the 2024-25 monitoring period. Most wolves died in vehicle collisions, which staff say is largely due to animals spreading across the landscape.<\/p>\n

The DNR also revised population estimates from 2020 to 2024. Under the changes, the number of wolves was down from the previous two years. <\/p>\n

The DNR\u2019s wolf advisory committee is made up of two dozen members representing state and federal agencies, farmers, environmental groups and Wisconsin tribes. They\u2019re tasked with providing input and recommendations to the agency on carrying out the state\u2019s wolf management plan, as well as developing policies and harvest quotas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson said he recognized the committee might not reach consensus on wolf harvest quotas, but he urged members to work together to reach an outcome they could \u201clive with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers on the state Senate\u2019s sporting heritage committee have sought changes to wolf harvest regulations that implement the DNR\u2019s updated wolf management plan, citing concerns about the lack of a population goal. <\/p>\n

Gov. Tony Evers recently told agency leaders<\/a> not to wait for GOP-controlled committees to sign off on rules, citing a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in July. The decision struck down parts of state law that allowed a Republican-led joint committee to indefinitely suspend rules.<\/p>\n

In a Sept. 4 letter<\/a>, the DNR said it would not change its wolf harvest regulations. Review of the rules by the Senate\u2019s sporting heritage committee ends next week, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are seeking to remove wolves from the federal endangered species list. U.S. House Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, introduced bills this year that would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a rule removing federal protections<\/a> for gray wolves and barring courts from reviewing the decision.<\/p>\n

In late 2020, the Trump administration delisted the wolf, but a federal judge restored protections in February 2022. Federal wildlife regulators are appealing that decision.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required to monitor wolf populations<\/a> for five years following any delisting. In Wisconsin, a 2012 law requires a wolf hunt each year when the animal isn\u2019t under federal protection.<\/p>\n

Animal advocacy groups and Wisconsin tribes have expressed concerns about state management of wolves if the animals are delisted, citing the 2021 wolf hunt. In February of that year, state-licensed hunters killed 218 wolves in less than three days, going over quota.<\/p>\n

Hunters and farmers have pointed to wolf conflicts with hunting dogs and livestock, saying nonlethal methods to manage wolves are ineffective or too costly. The DNR received more than 100 verified wolf complaints <\/a>in the most recent 2024-25 monitoring period. <\/p>\n

Agency data shows wolves killed 27 hunting hounds and two pet dogs. There were also 40 farms<\/a> that had wolf conflicts involving livestock, representing a small fraction of the state\u2019s 58,500 farms.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Public Radio, \u00a9 Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State wildlife regulators say Wisconsin\u2019s wolf population has grown to more than 1,200 and appears to be stabilizing,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-152580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}