Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks released their latest wolf count on Thursday. Fewer wolf deaths were reported in Montana in 2014 than in the previous year, but the population is trending downward.
Twelve percent. That’s how much the Montana wolf population decreased last year. With a little over 300 wolf deaths in the state, Montana’s minimum wolf count now sits around 554.
It’s a minimum count, because as Ron Aasheim of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks explains, they can’t count every wolf.
"We estimate about 25-35 percent more wolves on the landscape than we can count. Its like any species, you can’t count them all. What you basically get are trends," Aasheim says.
Wolves in Montana were taken off the endangered species list in 2011, and Aasheim says they’re likely to stay off that list until they reach a minimum number 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs.
Aasheim says the downward population trend of wolves may be most significant to livestock owners.
"The really good news is that livestock depredations went down by 46 percent. We went from 78 cattle, sheep, horses, goats, being killed by wolves to 42 to this year. And that’s a continued downward trend since 2009."
Across the western border, the Idaho Fish and Game Department says wolf numbers increased by 13 percent, reaching the highest level since 2010. Hunters and trappers in Idaho killed about 100 fewer wolves than last year.