Wyoming’s wolf population is above federal minimum recovery levels for the 24th year in a row, however it is lower than it has been in two decades.
According to the 2025 Wyoming Gray Wolf Monitoring and Management Annual Report, there are at least 253 wolves, including 14 breeding pairs across the state. That number is down from 330 wolves and 24 breeding pairs in 2024. What is the reason for the 23 percent decline? Distemper – a contagious viral disease that occasionally causes adult mortality but is particularly dangerous and deadly for wolf juveniles and pups.
“It was the lowest number of wolves in 20 years,” Ken Mills, Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) wolf biologist, told WyoFile. ““Seventeen pups survived in Yellowstone, which was the lowest they ever recorded.”
Breaking down the numbers, there were 132 wolves in northwest in Wyoming’s trophy game area, 84 in Yellowstone National Park, nine on the Wind River Indian Reservation and 28 across the rest of the state.
Graphic credit: Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Federal recovery criteria require at least 10 packs in Wyoming’s trophy game area, which WGFD reached.
“We set up the population objective of 160 wolves to be able to accommodate an event similar to what we experienced, and still meet our minimum recovery criteria,” Mills told WyoFile. “We met the minimum. It actually worked exactly as we intended.”
WGFD set a wolf hunting quota for 44 animals. Hunters took 31 with one more on the Wind River Reservation. Agencies or the public legally and lethally removed 49 wolves because of conflicts with livestock.
In 2025, WGFD spent $734,563 on monitoring, conflict management, education and compensation. The latest amount, $352,454, was to compensate livestock producers dealing with wolf-livestock conflicts. Authorities said wolves killed 28 head of cattle, one horse and one dog – the lowest number of confirmed depredations since 2010, due to management efforts.
Hunt 2 Conserve strongly supports the state management of wolves in Wyoming and all other states.
About Hunt 2 Conserve
Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.
(Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
