WYOMING — According to the Wyoming Gray Wolf Monitoring and Management 2022 Annual Report, a total of 95 wolf mortalities were documented statewide in Wyoming last year, with humans responsible for 89 percent of them.
The Report was prepared by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services and Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe Tribal Fish and Game Department, providing the status of the gray wolf population in Wyoming from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.
“At the end of 2022, the wolf population in Wyoming remained above minimum recovery criteria, making 2022 the 21st consecutive year Wyoming has exceeded the numerical, distributional and temporal recovery criteria established for wolves by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” the Report states.
As of Dec. 31 of last year, there were at least 338 wolves in more than 41 packs statewide; there were 85 wolves whose deaths were human-caused and 10 wolves who died of natural causes.
Wolves were confirmed to have killed or injured 97 head of livestock, including 46 cattle, 46 sheep and five horses, which the Report states is similar from the previous year. Directly due to those conflicts, 21 wolves were removed by agencies or the public in the Wolf Trophy Game Management Area and in predatory animal areas.
While the NPS creates protections to allow natural processes to occur for wolf population within the parks, a study published in January confirmed that killing wolves outside of National Parks interferes with wolf pack dynamics within park boundaries, leading to pack disintegration and compromised survival.
