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Wolves
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Wolves |
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Species at risk
Find out more about life on the edge.
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What can you do?
Get involved in conservation efforts and tell your friends!
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| Introduction - What are the threats? |
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|  | Habitat loss
Habitat loss has resulted in the decline in numbers of most species. Human populations continue to rise, while available habitat diminishes.
Wolves need space to provide them with sufficient prey and to ensure a reasonable amount of genetic diversity.
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| | Conflict with humans
Carnivores, particularly large carnivores that range over huge areas and live at low densities, are especially vulnerable to extinction. Many canid species are considered pests and have been hunted and persecuted as a killer of valuable livestock.
The most significant barrier is attitude - wolves still have a bad press with many people so more public education programmes and partnerships between government and non-government organisations/conservation groups are needed.
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| | Wildlife management issues
Many canids are caught up in major wildlife management issues (such as rabies transmission, predation on livestock, sport hunting and fur trading). Even where steps have been taken to protect wolves and their habitat, conservation measures are often difficult to monitor or enforce.
For wolves to flourish, people need to set aside publicly owned spaces that are devoid of cattle grazing and roads. Land purchasing and leasing initiatives and the creation of wildlife corridors would help individual nations halt the decline in wolf numbers.
Captive breeding and reintroduction programmes have had some success and are useful as a last resort. In captivity, wolves are protected from persecution, disease and genetic dilution (in the wild, wolves cross-breed with coyotes). However the conflict between canids and people makes reintroduction difficult. Even in areas where wolves occur naturally, but are near extinction, efforts to preserve remnant populations meet strong resistance.
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