Minnesota wolf population.. range has stopped growing
The population and home range of Minnesota’s wolves have stalled over the past10 years after three decades of growth, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reports.
The slight decline in wolf numbers and stable range in recent years is contrary to some predictions a decade ago that wolves, if left unchecked, would begin to colonize south outside of northern Minnesota’s forests and continue to expand in number.
Even some wolf experts predicted in the 1990s that Minnesota wolves would expand into agricultural areas of the state, as they did before settlement and as they do in parts of Europe.
But it appears limited government trapping and nature have done the job.
The state’s population of gray or timber wolves is estimated at 2,922
wolves in a DNR survey conducted last winter, down from 3,020 in the most recent count in 2004 and up a bit from 2,450 in 1998.
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