The gray wolf is being delisted as a federally protected species today (Jan. 4, 2021), following 45 years of protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The delisting allows South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks to manage wolves as a predator, as defined in state law. GFP does not support gray wolf expansion in the state.
Keith Fisk, program administrator with GFP, says over the past several decades, South Dakota has had a handful of gray wolves killed on both sides of the Missouri River. He says GFP says the gray wolves were likely transient animals dispersed from populations east and west of the state.
To gather further information and a DNA sample, GFP requests anyone who harvests a wolf in South Dakota to notify a wildlife conservation officer within 24 hours. GFP wants the inspection and sampling by a GFP representative to occur within 48 hours.
Under GFP’s management authority, trappers, sportsmen and women, landowners and livestock producers will have the ability to harvest gray wolves across the state. The same license requirements needed for coyotes are needed to harvest a wolf. These include a predator/varmint license, furbearer license or any resident or nonresident hunting license. To trap a wolf, a furbearer license is required. Landowners on their own land and youth under the age of 16 are exempt from the license requirement.
For more information, please visit gfp.sd.gov/wolf.
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