Wolf distribution
The species is now extirpated in much of Western Europe, Mexico, and the contiguous United States, and completely from the British Isles and the Japanese archipelago.
Despite these threats, because of the gray wolf's relatively widespread range and stable population, it is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
The gray wolf was only present in the eastern and northern parts of Finland by 1900, though its numbers increased after World War II.
[4] In Central Europe, wolves were dramatically reduced in number during the early 19th century, because of organized hunts and reductions in ungulate populations.
[6] The last free-living wolf to be killed on the soil of present-day Germany before 1945 was the so-called "Tiger of Sabrodt", which was shot near Hoyerswerda, Lusatia (then Lower Silesia) in 1904.
Wolves in the eastern Balkans benefitted from the region's contiguity with the former Soviet Union and large areas of plains, mountains and farmlands.
Organized persecution of wolves began in Yugoslavia in 1923, with the setting up of the Wolf Extermination Committee (WEC) in Kočevje, Slovenia.
[citation needed] Wolf populations only began declining in the Iberian Peninsula in the early 19th century, and was reduced by a half of its original size by 1900.
[4] The recovery of European wolf populations began after the 1950s, when traditional pastoral and rural economies declined and thus removed the need to heavily persecute wolves.
By 2013 the 250 wolves in the Western Alps imposed a significant burden on traditional sheep and goat husbandry with a loss of over 5,000 animals in 2012.
Although hundreds of Iberian wolves are illegally killed annually, the population has expanded south across the river Duero and east to the Asturias and Pyrenees Mountains.
[15][16] In 2016, a female wolf tracked 550 kilometers from a region southwest of Berlin to settle in Jutland, Denmark where male wolves had been reported in 2012 for the first time in 200 years.
Wolves in Slovakia, Ukraine and Croatia may disperse into Hungary, where the lack of cover hinders the buildup of an autonomous population.
The number of wolves in Albania and North Macedonia is largely unknown, despite the importance the two countries have in linking wolf populations from Greece to those of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.
During the Holocene, the Tsugaru Strait widened and isolated Honshu from Hokkaido, thus causing climatic changes leading to the extinction of most large-bodied ungulates inhabiting the archipelago.
Japanese wolves likely underwent a process of island dwarfism 7,000–13,000 years ago in response to these climatological and ecological pressures.
[31] There is little reliable data on the status of wolves in the Middle East, save for those in Israel and Saudi Arabia, though their numbers appear to be stable, and are likely to remain so.
Israel's conservation policies and effective law enforcement maintain a moderately sized wolf population, which radiates into neighbouring countries, while Saudi Arabia has vast tracts of desert, where about 300–600 wolves live undisturbed.
Although protected since 1972, Indian wolves are classed as endangered, with many populations lingering in low numbers or living in areas increasingly used by humans.
[26] Wolf populations throughout Northern and Central Asia are largely unknown, but are estimated in the hundreds of thousands based on annual harvests.
In his November 6, 1721 letter to the French Minister of the Marine, Louis Denys de La Ronde reported that the island was home to wolves "of a prodigious size", and sent a wolf pelt back to France to substantiate his claim.
From 1900 to 1930, the gray wolf was virtually eliminated from the western U.S. and adjoining parts of Canada, because of intensive predator control programs aimed at eradicating the species.
By the start of the 20th century, the species had almost disappeared from the eastern U.S., excepting some areas of the Appalachians and the northwestern Great Lakes Region.
[48] In Alaska, the gray wolf population is estimated at 6,000–7,000, and can be legally harvested during hunting and trapping seasons, with bag limits and other restrictions.
[49] Canadian wolves began to naturally recolonize northern Montana around Glacier National Park in 1979, and the first wolf den in the western U.S. in over half a century was documented there in 1986.
[50] The wolf population in northwest Montana initially grew as a result of natural reproduction and dispersal to about 48 wolves by the end of 1994.
[51] From 1995 to 1996, wolves from Alberta and British Columbia were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho and expanded their range into the northern Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest.
The vast majority clustered in their historic range in the northeast corner of the state, where the forests are full of elk and deer.
Additional wolves have been tracked entering the state, as the Cascade Range extends south from Oregon into northern California.
Management under the Endangered Species Act allowed the wolves in Minnesota to flourish and repopulate northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
