Minnesota’s wolf population has been officially removed from the federal endangered species list and will be managed by the state DNR. Wolves were removed from the endangered species list in Wisconsin and Michigan as well.

Wolves will be managed in Minnesota by state statute, rule and under a wolf management plan. The state wolf plan is designed to protect wolves and monitor their population while giving owners of livestock and domestic pets more protection from wolf depredation. It splits the state into two management zones with more protective regulations in the northern third, considered the wolf’s core range.

The plan establishes a minimum population of 1,600 wolves to ensure the long-term survival of the wolf in Minnesota. The state’s wolf population, estimated at fewer than 750 animals in the 1950s, has grown to its current estimate of 3,020. There will be no public hunting or trapping seasons on wolves for at least five years.
The endangered species act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor wolves in Minnesota for five years after delisting to ensure that recovery continues. The long-standing wolf depredation control program, managed by U.S, Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services in Grand Rapids, will continue uninterrupted by the legal changes.

The state wolf plan has new provisions for taking wolves that are posing risks to livestock and domestic pets. Owners of livestock, guard animals, or domestic animals may shoot or destroy wolves that pose an immediate threat to their animals, on property they own or lease in accordance with local statutes. “Immediate threat” means the observed behavior of a gray wolf in the act of stalking, attacking, or killing livestock, a guard animal, or a domestic pet under the supervision of the owner.
Additionally, the owner of a domestic pet may shoot or destroy a gray wolf posing an immediate threat on any property, as long as the owner is supervising the pet. In all cases, a person shooting or destroying a gray wolf under these provisions must protect all evidence, and report the taking to a DNR conservation officer within 48 hours. The wolf carcass will be surrendered to the conservation officer.

In the southern two-thirds of the state (Zone B), a person may shoot a gray wolf at any time to protect livestock, domestic animals or pets on land they own, lease, or manage. The circumstance of “immediate threat” does not apply. A DNR conservation officer must be notified within 48 hours, and the wolf carcass will be surrendered to the conservation officer. Also in this area, a person may employ a state certified predator controller to trap wolves on or within one mile of land they own, lease, or manage.