Wolf Conservation Program

Raincoast’s Wolf Conservation Program is built on peer-reviewed science, public education, and wildlife management reform.

Photo by Michelle Valberg.

Raincoast’s wolf initiatives are working towards shifting the provincial management of gray wolves away from a poorly-informed and exploitation-based model to one that respects the welfare of wolves and their important role in functioning ecosystems. Our ultimate goal is to end the killing of wolves in British Columbia for the purposes of predator control, trophy, and perceived competition for shared prey.

Moving towards coexistence

The level of human-caused wolf mortality in BC can only be described as staggering. In addition to the hundreds of wolves dying at the hands of lethal control programs (government sanctioned wolf culls), the BC government estimates that some 1,200 wolves are killed annually from recreational hunting and trapping, all sanctioned and encouraged by the province. To ensure that wolves continue their wild ways amidst an uncertain future, coexistence must replace killing wolves.

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A darkly coloured wolf with black highlights walks across the sand in the intertidal zone. — Photo by Colleen Gara.

Science-based approach

Our policy recommendations and advocacy on behalf of wolves are grounded in rigorous, peer-reviewed research and conservation ethics. With our community partners, we continue to gain scientific understanding about wolves across BC. This includes work on coastal wolves – a subspecies that has been found to be genetically distinct from their inland cousins, unique to the Pacific coast. Collaborative efforts among Raincoast scientists, Indigenous Nations, organizations, and several universities are creating contemporary knowledge about this globally unique wolf-deer-salmon system.

Questions we are asking

At Raincoast, we aim to apply and advance research methods that are minimally invasive to wildlife. Accordingly, much of our wolf research hinges on obtaining information from camera traps, acoustic loggers, and samples such as hair and scats, which we collect without capturing or handling wildlife. Through our research along the central and south coasts of BC, we hope to gain a better understanding of wolves and other apex predators in anthropogenically-disturbed populations, and their interactions with prey species in salmon-bearing watersheds. Along the south coast, we are conducting initial surveillance in tributaries of the Fraser River and working collaboratively to develop this research with the local First Nation.

How do wolves interact with their environment during disturbance?
How does seasonal salmon abundance influence the distribution and behaviour of wolves in wolf-ungulate-salmon systems?
How do apex predators, like wolves, contribute to carbon cycling in this unique system?
What are the economic and ecological benefits of wolf presence in anthropogenic landscapes?

Wolf research papers

Wolf reports and books

A group of wolf pups sit together in a lush green forest, looking at and playing with one another.

Seasonal shifts in a wolf’s life

What does a wolf’s development look like?

A red-haired young woman stands in front of a projector, speaking to a crowd sat listening as she speaks on wolf biology.

Embracing your inner wolf and field researcher

Events and presentations to get you thinking about wildlife and coexistence.

Wolf home range and travel distances

Range size varies widely depending on factors like prey density, pack size, and terrain.

A wolf is seen via trail cam imagery as they stop to poop.

What does a wolf eat in a year?

What does a wolf eat over the course of a year? How can we find out? Through scat analysis! As we head into 2026, we wanted to share some results from our scat analysis work documenting what recovering wolf populations eat throughout the seasons. While it’s well known that wolves have a strong appetite for…