The Gray Wolf (Timber Wolf) in Wisconsin

Gray Wolves have been reinstated as a federally protected species. Read update....

The sound of a howling gray wolf is becoming a more common event in Wisconsin. A growing population of wolves now live in Wisconsin, one of about a dozen states in the country where gray wolves exist in the wild. Gray Wolves, also referred to as Timber Wolves, are the largest wild members of the dog family.

Photo of gray wolf in Iowa County, a few miles north of Yellowstone Lake.
Photo by Kate Cassidy.

Wolves are social animals, living in a family group, or pack. A wolf pack's territory may cover 20-80 square miles, about one tenth the size of an average Wisconsin county. This species has been state delisted since 2004 and has been listed as a "Protected Wild Animal" by the Wisconsin DNR U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They were federally delisted on March 12, 2007, but on September 29, 2008 were placed back on the federal endangered species list.

On May 4, 2009, wolves were again removed from the federal list of endangered species, after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service addressed concerns raised by the lawsuit in September 2008. Wolves are thus again a state managed species under the authority of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and tribal conservation departments on Indian lands.