Before the arrival of European settlers, wolves ranged widely across the continent, from coast to coast and from Canada to Mexico. Two species are found in North America, the gray wolf, with its various subspecies, and the red wolf. Historically, gray wolves were found throughout most of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with red wolves primarily inhabiting the southeastern United States. Wolves play an important role as predator in the ecosystems they inhabit. Wolves feed primarily on large mammals, such as deer and elk, removing sick and injured animals from the populations.
Wolves are highly social, living in packs and hunting and raising young cooperatively.
As the country was settled, native prey species dropped and numbers of domestic animals increased. The belief by settlers that wolves endangered livestock prompted efforts to eradicate wolves throughout their range. In the United States, large-scale predator control programs were carried out, with wolves hunted and killed nearly to extinction. By the middle of the 20th century, few wolves existed in the Lower 48 states. Only several hundred gray wolves in Minnesota remained, with a few red wolves and an occasional Mexican gray wolf reported.