| The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Distinct Population Segments Classifications of Wolves |
| Wolves can survive in a broad range of environments and are adaptable to change. It is only because of their systematic elimination by humans that their existence has been compromised. The first endangered species recovery program for gray wolves was instituted in the western Great Lakes region As part of the process of changing the classification of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established three Distinct Population Segments (DPS) for the gray wolf. Prior to 2003, the gray wolf was listed under the ESA as endangered in Mexico and all but one of the lower 48 states. The ESA was never intended to provide long-term protection to species that are not proximate danger of extinction. Its purpose has always been to provide emergency management and protection only. In 2003, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reclassified the gray wolf from the endangered to threatened in most of the lower 48 states. In Minnesota, the gray wolf was listed as threatened-- not endangered-- even before the reclassification of 2003. The changes to the classification of the gray wolf do not affect the red wolf, which is a separate species and is still listed as endangered in its historical range, the Southeast. Because reintroduction efforts of the Mexican gray wolf into the southwest are still in the early stages, the Southwestern Gray Wolf DPS has retained the classification of endangered. That district is made up of Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Colorado, southern Utah, western Texas and western Oklahoma. Due to successful recovery efforts in the Eastern Gray Wolf Distinct Population Segment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in 2004 to delist this DPS. It was reclassified as threatened due to the positive recovery efforts in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Because recovery efforts in the Northern Rocky Mountains have had some success, the Western Gray Wolf DPS was reclassified as threatened. The Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 defines an endangered species as one that is on the edge of extinction throughout much of its range. |
| Wolves vs Humans Throughout history, humans have depleted the wolf's natural prey and replaced it with domestic livestock, then responded negatively when the wolf turned to the only available animals for a source of food. According to some surveys, by the late 1990's the wolf had been exterminated from 95% of the land it used to inhabit in the United States, 85% of its territory in Canada and nearly all of its former range in Mexico. Founders are wolves that have been captured from the wild for the purposes of improving the chance for long-term survival of the species. When enough wolves have been bred from the founders in captivity, they are released into specially chosen sites back in the wild. This is known as reintroduction of a species. Gray wolves have now been introduced into empty habitats in central Idaho and Yellowstone Park. |
| We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..... --- Farley Mowat Let us not make the wolf a stranger; Let us not put him in danger!! |
| Wolf Creek Habitat's 2007 Litter |
| All information came from the Date Works 2007 Wolves Day-at-a-Time Calender |
