Wyoming wildlife officials are closely monitoring Yellowstone National Park’s wolf population after the 2026 pup count fell well short of the park’s average. Park Service biologist Dan Stahler told WyoFile that roughly 20 pups remain alive in September, compared with the usual 37 that survive to year‑end.
Recent years show a dip, not a collapse
Last year’s numbers were already low because canine distemper, a non‑native disease, killed many young wolves. In 2025 only 17 pups survived, a record low for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This year, however, Stahler says disease is not the primary factor. Instead, a mix of natural causes and pack dynamics have limited litter sizes.
Pack‑specific challenges
The 8 Mile Pack lost its alpha male during the breeding season, leaving the breeding female without a partner and preventing any pups from being born. The Bliss Creek Pack has gone two years without pups for reasons still unclear. The Junction Butte Pack did produce a litter, but the young breeding female’s pups never emerged from the den, possibly due to inexperience.
Some packs are faring better. The Wapiti Lake Pack and the Rescue Creek Pack each reported seven surviving pups in early September. Yellowstone’s oldest group, Mollie’s Pack, also raised five pups after moving back into the park’s Pelican Valley, avoiding hunter gunfire that had previously threatened the pack.
Overall population remains stable
Yellowstone entered 2026 with 84 wolves—67 adults and 17 pups. Over the past 15 years the park’s wolf population has hovered just under 100 animals, with a roughly 16 % dip from the long‑term average this year. Stahler points out that similar lows occurred in 2012 (83 wolves) and 2018 (80 wolves), and the population rebounded each time.
He emphasizes that the wolves have built immunity to distemper; most captured wolves last winter showed high seroprevalence, meaning future outbreaks should be less deadly. Outside the park, Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist Ken Mills notes that state‑wide wolf hunting quotas were cut by half during the distemper crisis, but hunting remains unrestricted in the majority of the state where wolves are classified as predators.
State outlook remains optimistic
Mills reports that many Wyoming packs are now producing normal‑sized litters, with a few even delivering double litters—an event that typically occurs only once every four to five years. He expects the species to respond naturally to any population decline, as alternate breeders are always available within packs.
While hunting of wolf pups can be a concern, the limited hunting season this year means only 16 of the 22 wolves permitted for harvest have been taken so far, according to the Game and Fish online harvest report.
Community response
Wildlife enthusiasts have celebrated recent footage of Mollie’s Pack returning to Yellowstone, sharing the images widely on social media. Despite the low pup count, both Stahler and Mills stress that there is no biological red flag and that the wolf population remains a functioning, resilient part of the ecosystem.
Original reporting: Oil City News (Casper WY) — read the source article.
