Grey wolves roamed most of North America, for many hundred years without any trouble, until earlier settlers nearly eradicated their natural prey. The local wolf population faced with their land and food disappearing, had no choice but to attack livestock for food. This in turn lead the local ranchers to protect their land and animals with any means at hand. A war between the two ensured for more then 300 years, the wolves of northern America were almost eradicated by trapping, poisoning and bullets. In 1967 south of Canada the species were facing extinction if current numbers continued to drop at the rates of the time. Grey wolves were in 1974 finally, legally recognized as an endangered species and was protected then on by the endangered species act.

   Wolves, are highly intelligent animals, and show a variety of temperaments and mannerisms. They share complex relationships between their family members compared to most animals, they show loyalty and affection towards each other. They are highly curious animals, which allows them to learn and adapt well. Wolves have adapted very well to the presence of man, and can be found across Europe, Asian, And North America from the high Arctic to central Mexico. Before the impact of man surverly lowered wolf populations they were the most widespread land mammal after humans. They are also one of the largest canids averaging form 80 to 120 pounds.

   The grey wolf originally populated North America coast to coast, except for a smaller species known as the red wolf which populated the south eastern United States. Grey wolf populations ranged in the hundreds of thousands and came in a variety of subspecies: the eastern timber wolf, midland wolf, north western wolf, Arctic wolf, and Mexican wolf which populated the countries Southwest. When settlers realized how much of a problem wolves were to their livestock a mass eradication was encouraged by government agencies, in the form of cash bounties. Pushed on by these incentives federal hunters trapped and shot any animals they could find, parks didn't stop the hunters either. Eastern Wolf populations had disappeared long before the close of the 19th century. Grey wolves were gone from the West by by the 1930's, by the 1960's the only populations in existence south of Canada were hiding out in dotted populations across the country, the largest known population was in northern Minnesota, of about 300 to 700. The population in Minnesota was one of the last in America and the wolves were subjected to a high fatality rate as bounty hunters rushed to make money from them, before the bounty ended in 1965.

   What was left of that wolf population has grown today into a fluctuating population in excess of 2,000 animals. Minnesota now have a great respect for their wolf populations and have (as many states), set up centres, which act as local enclosures, museum exhibits, and field classes, which can be found dotted all across the northern states. Once grey wolves were catagorized into 24 sub species; now thier are only 5 recognized. Scince the introduction of wolves to the endangered list, natural populations still in existance, such as Minnosota have grown. Some populations in southern Canada have grown so densly that packs have began to move themselves slowly into Montana. Most of these animals are comming from Glacier National Park which is a park on the border of America and Canada, very close to Montana itself.

   Sparked on by this natural re-introduction, federal agencies in 1995 decided to launch a large scale re-introduction of wolves via air lifting from Canada to be placed in Yellowstone National Park, and Frank Church Wilderness - Idaho, as well as aiding the natural progression of wolves into Montana. The program became wildly sucsessful and reintroduced around 90 wolves in Yellowstone, 70 in Idaho, and 75 in Montana.

   Becasue of their ecological strength, wolves are built to breed quickly and explore widely. They have little problem holding their own in the parks, even if they are transplanted there. The wolves are usually kept captive in pens for ten weeks to allow them to get a feel for their new habitat, and deter them from bolting back to were ever they came from. After the ten week period, they are let into the wilderness of the park, the wolves are introduced individualy usualy. They quickly join a pack or start thier own and feed off the local elk populations of the parks or whatever animals they can find in abundance.

   Becasue of the orginal problems which have faced wolf packs in the past there is alot of fear from local ranchers. Many of the residence of the states which were most affected by the re-introduction were all in favor of the program. Many residents however, mainly ranchers are totaly against the process, some even went as far as to create groups, one of which called the Abundant Wildlife Society of North America, a member of this group stated that, "Alaska and Canada have plently of wolves. How can the govonment say thy're endangered and tr to stuff them down our throats here? I've dug up old news clippings, and they show large numbers of wolves killing stock and things like mail carriers getting chased by wolves. Wolves are destructive, and we should have the option to control them using poison and aerial hunting. People's rights have to come first."

   Some incidences of wolves attacking livestock resulted in a insuring court battle against the re-introduction process headed by wolf hating ranchers, and several environmental groups. The fear of the environmentalists was that "the lessend protection for wolves could become a death sentence for existing natural populations." The court case found that the program was illegal and the animals to be deported, becasue to place an "experimental population" in the range of an established one was forbidden by the Endangered Species Act. At the time of writing this page, the court stayed the order pending appeals, awaiting further rulings. However if the orginal decision is upheald, the only way to remove the animals will be to kill them.

   The ranchers argument for the erradication of current day wolf repopulations state that the wolves are costing them live stock and money. Some ranchers in Minnosota have managed to; through legal actions, lower the status of Minnosota's wolf population from endangered to threatened, in 1978. These court actions were based on extreme cases of ranchers who had extremly large properties which borderlined on Canadian wolf teritories.

   Minnosota statistics for wolf activities on farm lands are as follows; within the current range of over 2,300 wolves lie around 8,000 farms and ranches. In recent years only 70 to 90 farms; about 1 percent; experince losses. Records through 1979 through 1996 show an average of 43 sheep nd 38 cattle lost to wolves and one cow out of every 6,100 in wolf country. The amount paid out annually to reimburse stockbreeders for wolf damage come to about $32,000; total - for the whole state. About as much as a pickup truck. One Minnasota resident, faced with the task of problematic wolf erradication stated that "Minnesota has fish farming operations that individually lose $50,000 a year to birds." Troublesome wolves in Minnesota are no longer relocated, they are simply caught in leg hold traps and shot, an estimated 200 wolves die that way every year.

   The future of wolves in their natural wildlife may not be as bleak as it seem; becasue their are large numbers already in the wild it is un likly that they will ever be completly erradicated from North America. They have plently of natural prey at their disposal, too much in some areas, so in effect reintroducting the animals will naturaly control the problems of over crowding of animals such as elk. The other main source of prey for grey wolves is deer. Wolves are qouted as taking an average of 18 to 20 deer to one wolf every year. These animals are considered pests to ranchers they eat oats and corn crops, hunters and motorists kill about 200,000 deer every year.

   Wolves are a natural chain in the food chains of the northen states, they are simply taking what they need to survive. Just as all predators wolves serve the purpose of natural population rounding, they stop elk and deer populations from growing out of control. They aid in the survival of natural bears such as grizzlies, as grizzlies are part scavanger, wolves also keep the natural population of many other animals in their proper size. Wolves are one of the last naturaly perfected predatorial species that humans have a good chance at keeping alive.