The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has recently made this year's wolf monitoring report available to the public. In the report they outline statistics and survey methods for the gray wolf in Wisconsin. The gray wolf is considered a federally endangered species in the Great Lakes region.

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The monitoring took place between April of 2019 and April of 2020. Some of the methods they used to determine their findings include summer howl surveys, studying snow tracks in the winter, collecting public observation reports, recovering dead wolves, and depredation investigations.

They recorded 313 wolf or wolf sign observation reports. That's an increase from the 2019 report where there were 231 observations recorded. The estimate the gray wolf population at 1034-1057 wolves. That is a 13.1% increase in population from last year. They believe there to be 256 packs of wolves in the state, with an average of 4 wolves per pack.

Other statistics show that the wolf density is about 1 per 22 square miles of wolf pack range. The DNR also live caught some wolves to study them. The average weight of the male wolves was 78 pounds, and the female average weight was 71 pounds.

As part of the study, the WI DNR investated wolf incident reports in their depredation management. There were 92 confirmed wolf complaints of 134 incidents investigated. There were 31 live stock incidents, including 24 dogs killed by wolves, and 1 injured while hunting. Outside of hunting, 4 dogs were killed and 5 were injured.

You can read the entire report on the WI DNR website report.

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