CODY – For two decades, Wyoming’s wolf population has been above the minimum population number to be considered a recovered species.

Wyoming Game and Fish recently released its annual report on the population of wolves in and around Yellowstone National Park.

According to the report, at the end of 2021, the gray wolf population in Wyoming remained above minimum recovery criteria, making 2021the 20th consecutive year Wyoming has exceeded the numerical, distributional and temporal recovery criteria established for wolves by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

At least 314 wolves in more than 40 packs (including more than 23 breeding pairs) inhabited Wyoming statewide on Dec. 31. Of the total, there were more than 161 wolves and more than 24 packs (including more than 14 breeding pairs) in the Wolf Trophy Game Management Area, which includes the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem outside of the national parks.

There were 97 wolves and more than eight packs (including six-plus breeding pairs) in Yellowstone National Park; more than 17 wolves and more than three packs (including two-plus breeding pairs) in the Wind River Reservation; and more than 39 wolves and at least five packs (including one-plus breeding pair) resided in areas where wolves are designated primarily as predatory animals in Wyoming.

A total of 107 wolf mortalities were documented statewide in Wyoming in 2021: 62 in the WTGMA, 38 in areas where wolves are primarily designated as predatory animals, six in Yellowstone, and one in the Wind River Reservation. Humans caused 84% of wolf deaths, 13% were attributed to natural causes and 3% unknown.

Fifty-six wolves were captured and radio-collared for monitoring and research in 2021.