Wolves have spread to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale in Lake Superior, which now have more than 200 animals. In neighboring Wisconsin, the population has risen from zip 25 years ago to about 250 today, says Adrian Wydevan, a wolf biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. Wydevan says wolves have caused little trouble on Wisconsin farms, and ate only four calves in spring, 2000. Although wolves prey on white-tail deer, they haven't affected the Wisconsin deer population, Wydevan says. However, wolves may have local impacts, causing deer to be more wary and spread out across the landscape.
Wolves do seem to be making inroads into the beaver population, however.
People's attitudes are changing. They're accepting the idea that it's natural to see predators as well as prey species. The natural recovery of Midwestern wolves is echoed among some other showy critters in the United States. Moose and the eastern cougar, or catamount, are now seen in Vermont, thanks partly to the return of farmland to forest. Unlike the wolf, however, they are dangerous.