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Fig.1. Minnesota wolf range (north of dashed line) and distribution of farms (dots) where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service verified that wolves have killed livestock, 1975-80. B.I.S.F. indicates Beltrami Island State Forest; S.N.F. indicates Superior National Forest.

At least 90% of the farms within Minnesota's wolf range currently have some livestock; cattle, sheep, or both, are present on at least 80% of the farms (Joseph W. Rust, personal communication). About 234,000 cattle and 91,000 sheep were present during summer of 1979 (based on data from Minnesota Agricultural Statistics 1979). Cattle are present on farms throughout the wolf range, whereas most sheep production is in the northwestern part of the range. Within the past 10 years the number of sheep on farms in the wolf range has decreased by 54%; however, the number of cattle has increased by 10% (Minnesota Crop and Livestock Reporting Service 1969, 1979). During winter, cattle and sheep are confined or their movements are restricted to areas near farm buildings, but in late April or May they are released to graze in open and wooded pasture until about October (Fig. 3). During that period they are especially vulnerable to depredation by wolves, and this possibility is of great concern to many farmers.

Other types of livestock on northern Minnesota farms include swine, horses, goats, turkeys, chickens, ducks, and geese; these are usually less numerous and less vulnerable to depredation by wolves because of husbandry practices. Turkeys, however, are raised on open range in summer, primarily in the northwestern counties, and are vulnerable to wolves. Because most attention has been focused on depredations on cattle and sheep, this paper will deal primarily with those two types of livestock.

Fig. 2. Aerial view of a northern Minnesota farm in wolf range.

Historically, various management programs have been proposed or implemented to help alleviate wolf damage to livestock in Minnesota. Each of these has been based on the assumption that wolves are highly destructive to domestic animals, especially to cattle and sheep. Even the Eastern Timber Wolf Recovery Team assumed that the wolf was an important predator of livestock (Bailey 1978). One of the reasons given for the reclassification of the eastern timber wolf in Minnesota from "endangered" to "threatened" status in 1978 was that continued total protection was expected to result in colonization of rural areas and consequently increased depredations on livestock.

Fig. 3. Cattle in a northern Minnesota pasture.

In general many persons interested in wolf management believe that wolves are highly detrimental to livestock production in northern Minnesota. The objectives of this paper are (1) to examine that assumption by using the best information available, (2) to describe the historical and current status of wolf depredation in Minnesota, and (3) to examine the approach and effectiveness of past and present programs designed to ameliorate the problem. Special attention will be given to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's [FWS] depredation control program in 1979 and 1980.