The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife today issued its 2024 gray wolf annual report, announcing an increase in the wolf population for a new state total of 204 wolves — an increase of 15%. The report also confirms decreased wolf-livestock depredations, while poaching remains an impediment to wolf recovery.
“The 2024 count is promising, but it highlights a pressing issue: illegal poaching is preventing the state from meeting its recovery goals in western Oregon,” said Joseph Vaile, senior representative to the Northwest program at Defenders of Wildlife. “Oregon must do more to reduce human-caused mortality or wolves will never fully recover.”
Wolves in the eastern third of Oregon are currently not listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. As part of the Northern Rockies population segment, federal protections were removed in 2011. On the state level, wolves are managed under the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan. The wolf plan protects wolves in the East Management Zone and West Management Zone, with added protective measures until wolves are considered established in each portion of the state.
A poaching incident in 2023 reduced the number of breeding pairs that year in the West Management Zone, or that zone would have moved to its next phase of recovery that year. Seven wolf deaths from 2024 are under investigation by law enforcement. Early in 2025, a breeding male wolf was poached in the Metolius Pack, which may impact recovery goals in the Western Management Zone.
"To see that wolf-livestock depredations are down when the state's population has increased is a clear sign that non-lethal deterrents are working," said Vaile. “Oregon can create shared landscapes in which both humans and wolves may thrive, and Defenders will continue to support that effort.”
The Oregon gray wolf population had flatlined after a recorded 178 wolves in both the 2022 and 2023 annual counts. In 2024, a total of 25 packs were documented, an increase from 22 in 2023, and 17 of those packs met the state’s criteria as breeding pairs.
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