page_title: Wolf distribution
section_title: Recovery
hierarchical_section_title: Wolf distribution / Europe / Recovery
caption_attribution_description: English: Grey wolf in Bavarian Forest National Park
context_page_description: Wolf distribution is the species distribution of the wolf. Originally, wolves occurred in Eurasia above the 12th parallel north and in North America above the 15th parallel north. However, deliberate human persecution has reduced the species' range to about one-third, because of livestock predation and fear of wolf attacks on humans. The species is now extirpated in much of Western Europe, in Mexico, and much of the United States. In modern history, the gray wolf occurs mostly in wilderness and remote areas, particularly in Canada, Alaska and the Northern United States, Europe and Asia from about the 75th parallel north to the 12th parallel north. Wolf population declines have been arrested since the 1970s, and have fostered recolonization and reintroduction in parts of its former range, due to legal protection, changes in land-use and rural human population shifts to cities. Competition with humans for livestock and game species, concerns over the danger posed by wolves to people, and habitat fragmentation pose a continued threat to the species.
context_section_description: The recovery of European wolf populations began after the 1950s, when traditional pastoral and rural economies declined and thus removed the need to heavily persecute wolves. By the 1980s, small and isolated wolf populations expanded in the wake of decreased human density in rural areas and the recovery of wild prey populations.
  The gray wolf has been fully protected in Italy since 1976, and now holds a population of over 1,269–1,800. Italian wolves entered France's Mercantour National Park in 1993, and at least fifty wolves were discovered in the western Alps in 2000. By 2013 the 250 wolves in the Western Alps imposed a significant burden on traditional sheep and goat husbandry with a loss of over 5,000 animals in 2012. There are approximately 2,000 wolves inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula, of which 150 reside in northeastern Portugal. In Spain, the species occurs in Galicia, Leon, and Asturias. Although hundreds of Iberian wolves are illegally killed annually, the population has expanded south across the river Duero and east to the Asturias and Pyrenees Mountains.
  In 1978, wolves began recolonising central Sweden after a 12-year absence, and have since expanded into southern Norway. As of 2020, the total number of Swedish and Norwegian wolves is estimated to be 450. The gray wolf is protected in Sweden but with an  12% annual rate of poaching, and partially controlled in Norway. The Scandinavian wolf populations owe their continued existence to neighbouring Finland's contiguity with the Republic of Karelia, which houses a large population of wolves. Wolves in Finland are protected only in the southern third of the country, and can be hunted in other areas during specific seasons, though poaching remains common, with 90% of young wolf deaths being due to human predation, and the number of wolves killed exceeds the number of hunting licenses, in some areas by a factor of two. Furthermore, the decline in the moose populations has reduced the wolf's food supply. Since 2011, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark have also reported wolf sightings presumably by natural migration from adjacent countries. In 2016, a female wolf tracked 550 kilometers from a region southwest of Berlin to settle in Jutland, Denmark where male wolves had been reported in 2012 for the first time in 200 years. Wolves have also commenced breeding in Lower Austria's Waldviertel region for the first time in over 130 years.
  Wolf populations in Poland have increased to about 800–900 individuals since being classified as a game species in 1976. Poland plays a fundamental role in providing routes of expansion into neighbouring Central European countries. In the east, its range overlaps with populations in Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Slovakia. A population in western Poland expanded into eastern Germany and in 2000 the first pups were born on German territory. In 2012, an estimated 14 wolf packs were living in Germany (mostly in the east and north) and a pack with pups has been sighted within 15 miles of Berlin; the number increased to 46 packs in 2016. The gray wolf is protected in Slovakia, though an exception is made for wolves killing livestock. A few Slovakian wolves disperse into the Czech Republic, where they are afforded full protection. Wolves in Slovakia, Ukraine and Croatia may disperse into Hungary, where the lack of cover hinders the buildup of an autonomous population. Although wolves have special status in Hungary, they may be hunted with a year-round permit if they cause problems.
  Romania has a large population of wolves, numbering 2,500 animals. The wolf has been a protected animal in Romania since 1996, although the law is not enforced. The number of wolves in Albania and North Macedonia is largely unknown, despite the importance the two countries have in linking wolf populations from Greece to those of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Although protected, sometimes wolves are still illegally killed in Greece, and their future is uncertain. Wolf numbers have declined in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1986, while the species is fully pro
caption: Eurasian wolf in Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany
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