After three decades of rapid growth, wolf populations in both Minnesota and Wisconsin have stopped growing and have even declined some, with wildlife officials unsure exactly why.
That was the report in 2008 from wolf population surveys in both states.
The animals have saturated their primary northern forest range in both states and have generally stopped moving south.
The Minnesota survey showed an average estimate of 2,922 wolves last winter, down from 3,020 in 2004 but still up from 2,450 in 1998. The numbers are the mid-point of a very broad estimated.
In Wisconsin, the wolf count last winter fell between 537 and 564, down a tick from the 540-577 estimate in 2007.
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They were the first downward trends in either state in decades.
A recent Minnesota research study shows that parvovirus, a disease spread from domestic dogs, may be a factor in killing a large share of young wolf pups.
Wisconsin officials say a new type of mange, a skin disease that leads to exposure deaths in wolves, may be a new problem in the state.
A few wolves were legally shot in both states early 2008 by farmers and others under short-lived state wolf management rules. In Minnesota, about 150 wolves also are trapped and killed each year by federal wildlife control agents near where wolves have killed livestock.
