Wolf Depredation
5. Economic Impact
Farms Affected By Wolves
The livestock losses to wolves in the US are minute when held up against the large-scale background of ranching. However, although wolf depredation is inconsequential to the US livestock industry, it may nevertheless cause economic problems for individual farmers. So how many farms in the US are hit by wolf depredation?
There are more wolves in Minnesota than any of the other lower 48 states with wolves (because they were exterminated in the other states). The Minnesota wolf population occupy about 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles) of the northern part of the state, a secondary livestock production area, but is expanding southwards into prime livestock country.
Currently, there are roughly 7,000 farms with livestock within this wolf range; however, from 1975 to 1986 only 21 farms a year on average suffered verified losses to wolves (Fritts et al 1992). And from 1997 to 2001 wolves in Minnesota were verified to kill cattle, sheep, turkeys and dogs at only 82 farms (Wildlife Services 2002).
Much the same story can be said for other states where wolves have been reintroduced, albeit in small numbers. In Wisconsin, for example, there were 4,900 farms with cattle and sheep in wolf range from 1990 to 1998. Yet only 19 farms experience wolf depredation (Willging et al 1999).
Thus, the farmers in the US who sustain economic loss from wolves are a tiny fraction of livestock farmers.
Economic Impact
We have seen that wolves take surprisingly few livestock, affect very few farms and do not significantly impact the livestock industry where they have been researched in the US. But this is not to say that the few farmers who suffer economic loss from wolves are unimportant or that their livestock losses are in some way trifling.
Wolf depredation can undoubtedly cause economic hardship to individual livestock producers. This is particularly true in regions with marginal agricultural economies and meagre incomes, as shown by the following examples from western and eastern Europe, Mongolia and India.
Spain
Over 2,000 wolves live mainly in the north-west of Spain. The level of depredation varies but in the worst hit areas some 12 percent of livestock farmers suffer wolf depredation and lose about four percent of their average income because of it (Blanco et al 1992).
Romania
About 2,800 wolves live in 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles) of the Carpathian Mountains in Romania. They share the region with around five million sheep. In summer the sheep are collected and combined into flocks to graze in the highlands. Flocks average about 470 sheep each and are guarded day and night by shepherds and guarding dogs (Mertens et al 2002).
In spite of the protection, bears and wolves manage to kill three to ten sheep per flock for the grazing seasons of 1998 to 2000, averaging about two percent of sheep per flock. This may seem fairly low, but in Romania it can be a serious loss of income for the person grazing the grazing (Mertens et al 2002).
Mongolia
Mongolia's Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park extends for 28,000 square kilometres (11,000 square miles) across the Gobi-Altai mountain range. Losses to wolves were estimated at 2.3 percent for all kinds of livestock - sheep, goats, horses and camels - at an average cost of $183 per family for 2000/01. This is a significant proportion of annual income for families and they do not receive compensation (Tungalagtuya et al 2001).
India
Only about 2,000 wolves live in the whole of India now, in the central north of the country. In the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary, in Maharashtra State, livestock losses to wolves were estimated to total over $3,000 from 1991 to 1995, where the annual income of a livestock raiser is less than $300 on average (Kumar 2001).
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