Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
The Challenge and Opportunity of Recovering Wolf Populations
L. David Mech1
Abstract: The gray wolf once inhabited a wide variety of habitats
throughout most of the northern hemisphere north of the 20°N latitude.
Because the animal preyed on livestock and competed with humans for wild prey,
it was extirpated from much of its range outside of wilderness areas. Environmental
awareness in the late 1960s brought for the wolf legal protection, increased
research, and favorable media coverage. The species has increased in both Europe
and North America, is beginning to reoccupy semiwilderness and agricultural
land, and is causing increased damage to livestock. Because of the wolf's high
reproductive rate and long dispersal tendencies, the animal can recolonize many
more areas. In most such areas control will be necessary, but the same public
sentiments that promoted wolf recovery reject control. If wolf advocates could
accept control by the public rather than by the government, wolves could live
in far more places. Insistence on government control discourages some officials
and government agencies from promoting recovery. The use of large- or small-scale
zoning for wolf management may help resolve the issue. Public education is probably
the most effective way to minimize the problem and maximize wolf recovery, but
the effort must begin immediately.
This resource is based on the following source (Northern Prairie Publication
LDM0137):
Mech, L. David. 1995. The challenge and opportunity of recovering wolf
populations. Conservation Biology 9(2):270-278.
This resource should be cited as:
Mech, L. David. 1995. The challenge and opportunity of recovering wolf
populations. Conservation Biology 9(2):270-278. Jamestown, ND:
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/mammals/cowolf/index.htm
(Version 16JUN2000).
Table of Contents
1 National Biological Service, Patuxent Environmental Science Center,
Laurel, MD 20708, U.S.A.
Current address: North Central Forest Experiment Station, 1992 Folwell
Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, U.S.A.
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