Nine gray wolves were trapped and killed by federal wildlife staff in northern Wisconsin in late August and early September after the animals repeatedly posed threats to human health and safety in Price County.

Such lethal removals are authorized under provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act.

The wolves were documented posing threats to humans beginning in July 2025 and continuing through summer 2026, including three times in a week in mid-August 2026 in the Town of Flambeau, according to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports.

The nine wolves removed were thought to be from the same pack.

The animals were trapped and killed by employees with the Wildlife Services division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The federal employees work with the Wisconsin DNR to investigate and implement responses to wolf and other animal conflicts.

The removals represent the first time wolves were killed by officials in Wisconsin since a February 2022 federal district court ruling returned the species to protections of the Endangered Species Act and prevented hunting and most other forms of lethal management.

Randy Johnson, DNR large carnivore specialist, said numerous non-lethal measures, including auditory harassment, hazing, increased lighting, removal of potential attractants and increased human activity were used to try to address the wolf threats.

“Unfortunately, these did not resolve the issue,” Johnson said in a statement. “Reports demonstrated a pattern of behavioral escalation, with the wolves showing less response to hazing and more acclimation to human presence.”

Wolf threats to humans classified in three levels

In cases where wolves have killed livestock over the last four years, Wildlife Services has been limited to non-lethal controls, including fladry, noise machines, lights and range riding.

However, the ESA allows lethal action on otherwise protected animals if there are verified threats to humans.

Three classifications are used for investigations of human health and safety conflicts with wolves. Level 1 is an attack on a human, Level 2 is a demonstrable but non-immediate threat to a human and Level 3 is a wolf exhibiting normal non-threatening and non-habituated behavior but is in more frequent contact with people than deemed acceptable, according to the document.

All three levels of threats to humans allow lethal removal of wolves if deemed appropriate by wildlife officials.

No wolf attack has been documented on a human in Wisconsin in modern history, according to the DNR.

However, USDA-Wildlife Services investigations determined the same pack of wolves repeatedly posed verified threats to humans at or near rural homes in the Town of Flambeau.

Reports show a Level 3 threat was recorded Aug. 12 and Level 2 threats were recorded Aug. 17 and 19.

The decision to implement lethal control was made in consultations between federal and state employees. In addition to USDA-Wildlife Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the federal agency that oversees the Endangered Species Act) was consulted, Johnson said.

Verified threats by wolves against humans are rare in Wisconsin. In addition to the three in the Town of Flambeau in Price County, only one other – in Douglas County – has been documented this year, according to DNR reports.

Five verified wolf threats against humans were recorded in 2025, three in Price County and one each in Marathon and Douglas counties, and two were recorded in 2024, one each in Price and Washburn.

Wolf population has steadily grown but leveled out in Wisconsin

The gray wolf is native to Wisconsin but was wiped out by 1960 due to aggressive policies against the species, including bounties and the use of poison.

Once protections kicked in, including the federal Endangered Species Act in the 1970s, a population of wolves in northern Minnesota began to increase in number and expand in range. Wolves dispersing from northern Minnesota recolonized Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Badger State’s wolf population was estimated at 25 in 1980, 34 in 1990, 248 in 2000, 704 in 2010 and 1,034 in 2020, according to DNR reports.

The federal status of the species in Wisconsin has fluctuated between endangered, threatened and not-listed.

Wisconsin has held four wolf hunting and trapping seasons in the modern era, in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2021.

The Wisconsin population of gray wolves has stabilized in recent years, according to the DNR. The 2025-26 DNR report showed Wisconsin had an estimated 1,162 gray wolves in 321 packs in late winter 2026.

The estimate is made at a time of year wolves are easiest to track and at the annual population low. The population typically doubles in spring when pups are born, then begins to decline due to various sources of mortality, according to species experts.

The 2026 Wisconsin wolf population estimate represents a 5% year-over-year decline and is 3% below the five-year average, a slight fluctuation around the recent mean.

Confirmed or probable gray wolf depredations on livestock and other domestic animals in Wisconsin decreased in 2025, as did the amount of compensation paid, but were close to five-year averages, according to DNR reports.

The compensation dropped from $322,970 in 2024 to $200,864 in 2025. The average paid out from 2020-24 was $203,604.

Through Aug. 27, 2026, there were 53 confirmed or probable wolf depredations in Wisconsin, according to the DNR. For comparison, there were 51 through Aug. 28, 2025, and 51 through Aug. 27, 2024, according to DNR records.

Several attempts are or were being made to delist the wolf this year, including: an appeal of the February 2022 federal court ruling by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the Pet and Livestock Protection Act, legislation that has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works; a rider attached to the fiscal year 2027 Department of Interior appropriations bill; and an executive order issued Sept. 4 by President Donald Trump.

Laurie Groskopf of the Town of Harrison in Lincoln County, a dog owner and handler who served for many years on the DNR’s wolf committee and with various conservation organizations, supported the lethal removals in Price County.

“The frequency of the threats and the proximity to homes was a red flag,” Groskopf said. “When wolves become habituated to humans, it’s not safe. [The lethal removals] could well have prevented an attack.”

Paul Collins, Wisconsin state director for the Animal Wellness Action/Center for a Humane Economy, was critical of the action.

“The premise for this cloaked killing of nine wolves is implausible and astonishing,” Collins said. “There’s never been an attack by a wolf on a person in Wisconsin, yet suddenly, there are nine dangerous wolves who must be slaughtered? This is profiling of the worst order.”

The DNR’s Johnson said while the lethal removal of the nine wolves in Price County will have “no lasting negative biological impact on the wolf population in the area, the DNR acknowledges the sensitivity of these actions,” including the “profound cultural and spiritual significance of the wolf for the Ojibwe and other tribes.”

As a result, the DNR is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to “respectfully transfer the remains of the euthanized wolves to the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) so the wolves may be appropriately and respectfully handled consistent with cultural beliefs.”