Wolves represent a type of predator threatening livestock, such as cattle and sheep. Able to cover vast distances traveling in packs, the species canis lupus, the gray wolf, can develop an enormous appetite on long journeys in search of food. Any creatures unfortunate enough to be in their path soon become a tasty comestible on such occasions. Wolves generally are not associated with pleasant imagery, a view revealed in the tale of Little Red Riding Hood or by the expression “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” which reflects an unsavory human character. A more recent appraisal, however, suggests that wolves may have the capacity to add to human betterment.
Humans nearly eradicated the species from the continental U.S. by the 1960s, but legal protections strengthened during the latter half of the 20th century made it possible for about 5,500 wolves to exist in 10 coterminous states today. According to an article published on June 1, 2021 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, researchers quantified the effects of restoring wolf populations by evaluating their influence on deer–vehicle collisions (DVCs) in Wisconsin. They show that, for the average county, wolf entry reduced DVCs by 24%, yielding an economic benefit that is 63 times greater than the costs of verified wolf predation on livestock. Most of the reduction is due to a behavioral response of deer to wolves rather than through a deer population decline from wolf predation. Findings suggest that wolves control economic damages from overabundant deer populations in ways that human deer hunters cannot. Deer numbers have surged, increasing from about 2-4 deer per km2 in the precolonial era to 15-50 deer per km2 in some areas, affecting ecosystems by suppressing forest regeneration; altering the composition of tree and herbaceous plant species: contributing to the spread of invasive species; and causing Lyme disease through deer tick infestation.