-
The competition with Humans
During the industrial revolution and with the human population on the rise very quickly wolves had to constantly have clashes with humans over their habitat and humans came out on top taking more and more of the wolves territory until they were on the edge of extinction. History.com -
Period: to
Gray Wolf
In the 19th and early 20th centuries wolves were in constant conflict with humans over life stock lose which greatly reduced their numbers until the endangered species protected them and over species from full blown extinction. https://defenders.org/ -
The Wolves kill Livestock
In the 1940-60's the wolves were killing a lot of American livestock which led to the Federal Government allowing farmers to hunt wolves and bring their population down until they were basically nothing. History.com sciencemag.org defenders.org -
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the few dozens of US environmental laws passed in the 1970s, and serves as the enacting legislation to protect animals classified as endangered. In 1974 the gray wolf was put onto the Endangered Species act after a staggering drop in the wolf's population after they were mass hunted due to them killing American livestock. https://www.fws.gov/home/wolfrecovery/ -
The Gray Wolf is Classified as Endangered
In 1974 the Gray wolf was classified as endangered following a successful federal program to eradicate them in the lower continental states. In certain states the protection over wolves was never made until later years because they were considered Vermin one of these states were Wyoming. Nationalgeographic.com -
Gray Wolf Captive Breeding Program
In 1983 the captive breeding program was more firmly established with the birth of three litters totaling 15 pups. This breeding line of Mexican wolves is called the "McBride" lineage for the name of the trapper who caught the founders. Only one of the four males and the female successfully bred in captivity. -
Current Wolf Population
In April 2017 a study showed that the Gray Wolf population in Alaska was 7,700 - 11,200 while in the State of Washington only had a population of 20 Gray wolves.
