Hey, I'm Flor Lichtenen, and you are listening to Science Friday.

Today in the show, wolves are one of the great conservation comebacks.

But are they out of the woods?

Wolves have gone from, you know, the highest protections of the federal government to less

protected than just about any animal out there

in the three states that are most important to their survival.

Gray wolves are native to the Rocky Mountains, but decades of hunting nearly eradicated them

from the western U.S. by the 1940s.

In 1995, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and have done remarkably well.

They were removed from the endangered species list in 2020.

But not everyone is happy about their success.

My next guest reported on where wolves stand now.

Heath Druson is host of the podcast, Howell, from Boise State Public Radio and the Idaho Capitol Sun.

Heath, welcome to Science Friday.

Great to be here.

Heath, why did you take this story on?

A big part of why I took this story on is that I've had a longstanding fascination with

wildlife. I spend a lot of time in the outdoors in places where wolves live. I live in Idaho

and I'm a bit of a national park junkie, so I travel around with the West a lot.

And both, you know, recreating out there and being a reporter in that area,

I heard a lot of really strong feelings about wolves, like over-the-top feelings,

that just even animals like grizzly bears just don't really inspire the same feelings.

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