Are wolves killing lots of cattle and sheep?
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than six million head of cattle live in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the three states where the vast majority of wolves in the West live. U.S. Fish and Wildlife reports for those states show that in 2014, wolves killed 136 head of cattle, or 1 cow out of every 44,853. In the same three states, 820,000 sheep live. U.S. Fish and Wildlife reports show that in 2014, wolves killed 114 sheep, or 1 in every 7,193. However, because these losses are unevenly distributed, they can take a toll on a single producer.
