Gray Wolf Population In Decline

The population of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park has dropped by half in the last 15 years.

That’s according to the leader of the Wolf Restoration Project in Yellowstone. In a webinar broadcast live on Facebook Wednesday, Doug Smith said the gray wolf population in Yellowstone National Park has dropped to about 80 wolves. That’s down from 174 wolves back in 2003.

Smith notes that numbers leveled off in 2008 at about 100 inside the park, but have since dropped; Smith largely blamed packs moving out of the park, as well as outbreaks of disease — including distemper, mange and the parvo virus —for the decline.

The Powell Tribune reports the Wyoming Game and Fish Department estimates there are about 250 wolves still in the wild outside Yellowstone in Wyoming.