Recently the gray wolf, previously considered an endangered species, was delisted as such in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The animal’s endangered status was because of many factors, the most prominent reason being Western expansion.

“The biggest factor is as North America was settled, their habitat was destroyed,” said William Clark, professor in ecology, evolution and organismal biology. “Historically, people removed large predators.”

Along with western expansion, the government had a hand in the gray wolves’ endangered status after condoning the poisoning of wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, then known as the U.S. Biological Survey, poisoned livestock carcasses to kill gray wolves and encouraged the public to do the same.

“There was a period in the late 1800s and early 1900s that was called the ‘war on wolves,'” said David Mech, wildlife research biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey and adjunct professor of fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology at the University of Minnesota. “The whole history of wolves reflected the thinking of the general public.”

The reasoning behind killing wolves was public safety, since during that period, most people lived in rural areas and not in cities as they do now, Mech said.

However, with the passing of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the wolf population was protected.

“The endangered species list says every time a species is put on the list, a plan must be used,” Clark said. “In the case of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the population recovered on its own.”

Mech is also the founder and vice chair of the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minn.

According to the center’s Web site, Wolf.org, the center “advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wild lands and the human role in their future.”

The wolves’ placement on the endangered species list benefited the wolves greatly in terms of population, with harsh punishments for wolf poaching allowing the population to rebuild itself.

“A person killing a wolf was subjected to a $20,000 fine and six months in jail after the wolf was protected in 1973,” Mech said. “They [gray wolves] increased 20 to 25 percent a year [in population] in Wisconsin and Michigan.”

With poisoning now illegal and the wolf’s numbers growing at such a fast rate, the wolf population should get back to normal soon and stay that way, said Mech.

With that in consideration, and the fact that wolves are said to be difficult to hunt and trap, the wolves should stay off the endangered species list.

“They don’t let you get close to them,” Mech said. “It’s very hard to catch wolves.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service will be monitoring their population for five years, during which the wolves will also be under state protection.

“When they lose federal protection they gain state protection,” Mech said. “The federal government will monitor the wolf population.”

These wolves have been found in Iowa as well as other areas that aren’t in their typical territory. Wolves tagged for scientific purposes have been found as far east as Ohio and as far south as Missouri.