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Survey reduces estimated Michigan wolf population


Associated Press

IN THIS February 2006 file photo, provided by Michigan Technological University, a pack of gray wolves is shown on Isle Royale National Park in northern Michigan. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources issued a report Wednesday that the estimated number of gray wolves in Michigan's Upper Peninsula has declined for the second consecutive year to about 636 following the state's first wolf hunt in decades.


Based on a study conducted this winter, the Department of Natural Resources put the wolf population at 636 - down from 658 last year and 687 in 2012. But based on the way the numbers are calculated, the actual number of wolves could be up to 42 higher or lower than the estimated total, the agency said.


The statistical overlap between the two years suggests the population has not measurably declined, said Adam Bump, the DNR's furbearing animal specialist.

"It's essentially the same as it was before," he said.



The fact that the population drop over the last year was the same as the number of wolves killed in the hunt was a coincidence, Bump said. For the decline to have resulted entirely from the hunt, all the other causes of wolf deaths - starvation, disease, old age, road kills, poaching - would have to have been the same both years, he said.


A number of studies have predicted the U.P. population would hit its "carrying capacity" - the maximum number for which there would be enough territory and food - at 600 to 1,000, Bump said.



Jill Fritz, leader of a group called Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, said the latest figures show that "Michigan's fragile wolf population is still struggling to recover, and it underscores that there's no scientific justification for a hunt."


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