Life & Leisure News Article | Reuters.com By Judith Crosson

As the gray wolf hovered on the brink of extinction a decade ago, U.S. officials embarked on a controversial plan to open the vast refuge of Yellowstone National Park to the pack-based predators in the hopes of rebuilding the species.

Seeking to reintroduce an animal that had been an icon of the West even though it was reviled by ranchers, the Clinton administration 10 years ago this month released gray wolves imported from Canada into Yellowstone with great fanfare. The following year they introduced more into nearby Idaho.

The effort has been a resounding success. From just 14 when the program began, the population has risen to 165 wolves in 15 packs in Yellowstone, a 3,472-square-mile expanse that lies mostly in Wyoming. Including those that have migrated outside the park, their number stands at about 850.

“The area just cried out for wolves. We knew if we could just get them in they’d be successful,” Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said.

Environmentalists call the gray wolf’s revival in the western United States a rare success in the politically charged battles over conservation.