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Conservation Status A wolf meets his match. NPS. "The wolf 's comeback has been attributed to a combination of scientific research, conservation and management programs, and education efforts that helped to increase public understanding of wolves." - Gray Wolf Canis lupus. US Fish & Wildlife Service. 1998.  - Wolf Trust note: Add legal protection to this list. The grey wolf, Canis lupus, was the most widespread terrestrial mammal after humans and lived throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere. People killed off the wolf from much of its worldwide range. The wolf is now extinct in Mexico and Japan, and extinct over large regions of the US, China and elsewhere. All the wolves in western Europe were exterminated except for a handful in Spain and Italy. Although abundant in some areas, and gaining a little in the US and western Europe today, the wolf is still losing ground over large regions and is listed as a threatened species globally. A number of institutions have their own categories for defining the conservation status of the wolf, as follows: Conservation Status So what is the conservation status of the wolf? IUCN (World Conservation Union) Red List 1996. Vulnerable, ie a species exposed to becoming in danger of extinction. CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Appendix II, ie a potentially endangered species, worldwide. Appendix I, ie a species in danger of extinction, in certain countries. The Bern Convention (Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats). Council of Europe. Appendix II, ie a strictly protected species. Under this convention the habitat of the wolf receives full protection. The Habitats Directive (Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora). European Union. Appendix II, ie wolf habitat needs conservation in all European Union states. The European Parliament. Resolution on Wolf Conservation (document A 2-0377/88) 31 January 1989 (ISBN 92-77-45834-8). A resolution calling for immediate steps in favour of wolf conservation in all European member states and for the European Commission to provide financial means to support wolf conservation. The Standing Committee of the Bern Convention. Recommendation on the protection of the wolf in Europe. Adopted 1989. See Are there conventions promoting a wolf reintroduction in Britain? In addition to the above, individual countries have their own schemes to classify the conservation status of their own wolves. For further details and references see Section 2.6 in: Boitani L (ed.) (2002): Action plan for the conservation of wolves (Canis lupus) in Europe. Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, Strasbourg. Page revised 6.04

Wolf Range Dotted areas are regions where wolves might be found. But wolves do not necessarily live everywhere in these areas; large areas can be void of wolves.