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One of North America’s most iconic native predators, the gray wolf used to be found throughout the United Sates—from the forests of New England to the coastlines of the Pacific Northwest. Centuries of trapping, hunting, and poisoning, however, decimated the wolf population, and by the 1980s, there were only a few small pockets of survivors left in the continental United States.
Efforts to reintroduce the gray wolf to the Northern Rockies in 1995 ultimately succeeded and by 2005, the population had finally climbed above 1,000 animals. Despite this encouraging recovery, there have been and continue to be attempts to strip them of their protections and allow even more wolf hunting.
For the past decade, Earthjustice was instrumental in protecting the gray wolves in court. Our work is now shifting to Congress where there have been legislative attempts to derail wolf recovery and push these animals to the brink of extinction.
Support Us: Make a contribution
Support our work! Earthjustice has been critical to protecting endangered species in the Northern Rockies, such as grizzlies, wolves, and bison. Please support our ongoing efforts to preserve America’s wildlife for generations to come.
Interactive Timeline: Milestones in the Fight
Explore the history of the northern Rocky gray wolves, beginning in the 1930s when their numbers were decimated after years of persecution, through their successful reintroduction in the 1990s, to current day's first legal wolf hunt in the northern Rockies in nearly a century. Learn about the actions taken by the government, courts, and Earthjustice, and the roles they have played in this complex, ongoing story. View Timeline
Video: Earthjustice On PBS
In 2010, PBS NOW aired Hunting Wolves, Saving Wolves, a short piece on the ongoing efforts to save—and hunt—gray wolves in the northern Rockies, which can be viewed in its entirety below.
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