IUCN has assessed the Himalayan Wolf for the first time, classifying it as Endangered on their Red List. This designation places the species at high risk of extinction. The Red List includes nine categories, with the Himalayan Wolf falling under the Endangered category.

The list is based on a population size estimate of 2,275-3,792 mature individuals depending on best available data  while also acknowledging uncertainty in this estimate. It added that all individuals were in one subpopulation stretching across the Himalayan  range  of Nepal and India and across the Tibetan Plateau. “…A continuous decline in the population is suspected considering ongoing substantial threats and lack of conservation action,” it noted. India  has  227- 378  mature  individuals in its section of the Himalayas and few more would be in Ladakh and the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh.

Small area of wolf habitat is also available in Uttarakhand and Sikkim, where a few more individuals could be present, it added. It was in 2018 that a study by a team of British and Nepalese researchers had confirmed that the Himalayan or Woolly wolf was a genetically unique clade/lineage/ race of wolves, which had to be conserved before it went extinct.

The IUCN Red List Assessment has also flagged ‘continuing decline in area, extent and/or quality of habitat’ of Himalayan wolves. “Depredation conflict is a major conservation concern, given a seasonal or permanent high livestock abundance in wolf habitats that often form summer pastureland for livestock grazing. Habitat modification and encroachment and depletion of wild prey populations are important drivers of this conflict,” the assessment read.

It highlighted that hybridisation with dogs was also an emerging threat to the Himalayan wolf population in Ladakh and Spiti “where increasing populations of feral dogs pose a growing challenge”.

The wolf is illegally hunted for trade in its fur and body parts including paws, tongues, heads, and other parts. However, hunting of these wolves is not legal in all range states. The Himalayan wolves’ prey on as many as 39 species and  half  their diet is domestic livestock because  of  loss  in natural prey base.

IUCN Red List Categories:

The IUCN Red List categorizes species into nine groups based on specific criteria such as population size, rate of decline, geographic distribution, and population fragmentation:

1. Extinct (EX): Species that are beyond reasonable doubt no longer extant

2. Extinct in the Wild (EW): Species that survive only in captivity, cultivation, or outside their native range based on exhaustive surveys.

3. Critically Endangered (CR): Species facing an extremely high risk of extinction.

4. Endangered (EN): Species at a very high risk of extinction in the wild, meeting specific criteria for Endangered.

5. Vulnerable (VU): Species at high risk of unnatural (human-caused) extinction without intervention.

6. Near Threatened (NT): Species that are close to being classified as Endangered in the near future.

7. Conservation Dependent (CD): A category introduced to preserve the structure of the Red List, representing species that were previously overlooked.

8. Least Concern (LC): Species that are unlikely to become endangered or extinct in the near future.

9. Data Deficient (DD) and Not Evaluated (NE): Categories indicating insufficient information to assess conservation status.

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