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The Eradication of Wolves from |
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Historically, wolves have been a key predator in Yellowstone Park and the surrounding landscape. At the beginning of the 19th century the estimated population of gray wolves in the Yellowstone area was 35,000 animals. By the 1850s, with the loss of prey like buffalo, the wolf had two options for survival: eat livestock or starve. By 1894 farmers were losing most of their calves to hungry wolves, and people were calling for complete eradication of wolves. Wealthy stock growers associations had enough resources to legislate Canis lupus out of existence, and the wolf eradication programs began in earnest. In the early 20th century there were many negative myths about the wolf (including the prevalent myth that wolves kill people) which led to a continued decline in the population. The killing of a wolf in the Yellowstone area became a reason to celebrate. When the United States Congress created the US Biological Survey (later renamed the Fish and Wildlife Service), part of their mission included the eradication of wolves and other vermin from the West. |
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When the National Park Service was established in 1916, the slaughter of wolves in Yellowstone park continued. The last verified sighting of wolves in the park came with the trapping of two cubs near a buffalo carcass in 1926. Government hunters destroyed the last known wolf in the Yellowstone area in the 1940s. |