Legalizing Wolf Hunting in the US West Does Little to Prevent Livestock Loss

Legalized wolf hunting in the western US has had only a minimal impact on preventing livestock loss, a new study led by the University of Michigan suggests.

The research, published in Science Advances, compared data from Montana and Idaho, two states where public wolf hunts have been permitted, with Oregon and Washington, where hunting remains illegal.

“Hunting, on the whole, is not removing negative impacts associated with wolves. It does have some effect on rates of livestock loss, but the effect is not particularly consistent, widespread or strong,” Neil Carter, senior author of the study, told University of Michigan News.

Montana and Idaho launched their first regulated wolf hunts in 2009. At the time, officials hoped that cutting wolf populations would ease conflicts with ranchers who were losing cattle and sheep to predation. The assumption was that fewer wolves would mean fewer livestock deaths.

But the data doesn’t seem to support this theory. Researchers reviewed trends in wolf numbers, government removals, and livestock depredation between 2005 and 2021. Their analysis showed that eliminating one wolf amounted to protecting only about 7% of a single cow.

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2025/08/ranchers-conservationists-wolf-hunting-livestock-fight-debate/