Hunting wolves to protect livestock: Does it really work?

For centuries, wolves and humans have lived in a kind of uneasy balance. Wolves roam, and ranchers try to keep their livestock safe. But over the last few decades, that balance has gotten shakier.

As wolf populations rebound across parts of the U.S., the question keeps coming up: should hunting wolves be part of the solution?

A new study puts some numbers behind the heated debate. The research team found that while wolf hunting has some effect on livestock losses, the results are spotty at best. In fact, killing wolves barely moves the needle when it comes to protecting cattle or sheep.

A modern return of the wolves

Gray wolves were once nearly wiped out in the lower 48 states. But thanks to the Endangered Species Act and major reintroduction efforts in the 1990s, especially in the Northern Rockies, wolves have made a comeback.

Some states, like Idaho and Montana, now have healthy-enough populations that wolf hunting is legal under state laws.

But this comeback has also led to more wolf-livestock run-ins. When a rancher wakes up to find a dead calf or dozens of sheep gone overnight, it’s a serious blow. This is why many ranchers push for hunting as a way to control wolf numbers.

What this study shows, though, is that hunting doesn’t really do what people hope it does – at least not very well.

Hunting wolves doesn’t help livestock

On average, for every wolf hunted, livestock loss drops by two percent. That might sound like progress, but it’s a pretty weak effect. In real numbers, that works out to protecting less than one-tenth of one animal – just 0.07 livestock – for each wolf killed.

And in counties where wolves live, ranchers typically lose 3 to 4 animals per year to predation. So that bump is not exactly a game-changer.

“Hunting, on the whole, is not removing negative impacts associated with wolves. It does have some effect on rates of livestock loss, but the effect is not particularly consistent, widespread or strong,” the authors note.

Tracking wolves and livestock

This research was led by a team at the University of Michigan, supported by various institutions. They pulled data from four states between 2005 and 2021 – Idaho and Montana (where hunting is legal) and Oregon and Washington (where it’s mostly not).

The researchers compared counties with and without hunting and looked at changes before and after hunting became legal.

They also analyzed whether hunting influenced “lethal removals” – government-led efforts to take out wolves after serious attacks. The data showed no reduction in lethal removals due to hunting.

Ranchers face losses

Even though the average livestock loss is just a few animals a year, that number can jump dramatically. One Idaho rancher reportedly lost 65 sheep in a single night. That’s devastating – not just financially, but emotionally.

“The cost can be really high to an individual rancher, even over very short time periods,” said lead author Leandra Merz, assistant professor at San Diego State University. “We don’t want to minimize that.”

“We’re not necessarily saying that we shouldn’t be hunting and I want to be clear about that, because there are other motivations for hunting. But if the goal is to reduce livestock predation and we’re using hunting for that, it’s not as effective as we would like.”

What else can be done?

Some nonlethal tools are showing promise. Things like “fladry” – wavy flags on fences that can be electrified – can keep wolves out. So can drones, increased human activity, and even unusual sounds. These ideas might sound strange, but they’ve worked in field tests.

However, nonlethal methods cost money, and those costs often fall on the ranchers. Hunting, by contrast, costs ranchers nothing.

That’s part of the puzzle. “We just need to be a little bit more creative in how we redistribute some of the costs and benefits,” Merz said. “I think outside of managing wildlife, we do that a lot in society.”

Debate on wolf management

The wolf issue isn’t just a science problem – it’s a political and emotional one. Lawsuits about wolf protections are constantly being filed and overturned.

In 2020, wolves lost federal protection. In 2022, a court order reversed that. The back-and-forth continues.

“There are timely things happening related to wolf management, both domestically and internationally,” said Professor Neil Carter, the study’s senior author.

“Stakeholders involved in wolf management are bringing up the topic of hunting wolves and it’s an imminent conversation we’ll be having.”

At the center of that conversation is a key takeaway from this study: if we want to stop wolves from killing livestock, we need to question our assumptions.

Hunting might be part of the picture, but it’s far from a fix-all. There are no easy answers – but there is room for smarter, more creative ones.

The research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The full study was published in the journal Science Advances

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