MUMBAI: In a first-ever global assessment, the Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), one of the most ancient and elusive wolf lineages in the world, has officially entered the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of Threatened Species as ‘Vulnerable’, with only 2,877 to 3,310 mature individuals estimated to be surviving in the wild. The announcement was made on October 10 after an assessment done by Indian researchers was accepted by the IUCN.
The assessment, conducted between 2023 and 2024, represents the first formal IUCN evaluation of the Indian wolf. It was led by scientists across India, including Dr Shaheer Khan and Dr Bilal Habib of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in collaboration with Dr Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala, former WII dean and one of India’s foremost wolf ecologists known for his decades-long research on the species. Dr Lauren Hennelly, assistant professor, Rice University, was a co-collaborator.
Researchers examined more than 10,000 locations across India and Pakistan where wolves were recorded over the last two decades, applying multiple habitat-modelling techniques to estimate the species’ potential range. By combining viable habitat data with observed pack sizes, the team estimated the current population and identified Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan as key strongholds—together supporting nearly half of India’s wolves, most of which live outside protected areas in grasslands, scrublands and semi-arid landscapes interspersed with farms and villages.
The IUCN assessment estimates a decline in the past three generations due to habitat loss, human persecution, disease and hybridisation with feral dogs. In Maharashtra’s Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary landscape, the wolf population has dropped by over 41% between 2007 and 2023, equivalent to a 3.1% annual decline.
Living primarily outside protected zones has placed the Indian wolf at the frontline of India’s human-wildlife conflict. In districts such as Pune, where remaining grassland pockets in Saswad, Jejuri and Baramati are fast shrinking under urbanisation and infrastructure expansion, wolves are being squeezed into fragmented, human-dominated corridors. The resulting decline in wild prey has driven them toward livestock, leading to retaliatory killings, poisoning and den destruction by villagers. “The wolf’s proximity to human settlements makes it extremely vulnerable to conflict,” said Dr Khan.
Among the gravest long-term concerns flagged in the IUCN report is hybridisation on account of wolves mating with feral and free-ranging dogs, a process that threatens to erase the Indian wolf’s unique genetic identity. “Habitat loss and hybridisation are the biggest threats,” said Dr Khan. “Dog-wolf hybridisation is directly affecting the true wolf population, and we’re seeing a steady decline in genetically pure individuals.”
Recent genetic analyses from Saswad, Maharashtra, confirmed the presence of wolf-dog hybrids, indicating a growing gene flow between the two species. This hybridisation not only dilutes the wolf’s genetic lineage but also introduces diseases such as canine distemper virus (CDV), parvovirus and rabies, transmitted through scavenging dogs in shared habitats. In rural Maharashtra, several Indian wolf deaths linked to CDV have already been documented.
Experts emphasise that protecting the Indian wolf is crucial for maintaining an ecological balance in India’s grasslands, where it serves as an apex predator controlling herbivore populations and preventing overgrazing. However, Dr Khan pointed out that their survival depended on the future of India’s grasslands, which are disappearing rapidly under agriculture and infrastructure. “Currently, the number of wolves is even fewer than tigers,” he said.
The IUCN assessment calls for urgent, coordinated conservation action, recommending protection and restoration of grassland habitats, community-based coexistence programmes, rigorous long-term population monitoring, conflict mitigation and compensation schemes, and strengthened legal protection and enforcement.
Researchers believe that the new IUCN classification could finally shift conservation and policy attention toward this long-overlooked predator. “Now that the Indian wolf is officially recognized as ‘vulnerable’, it opens the door to more research, targeted conservation, and stronger legal protection,” Dr Khan said , adding that the findings would eventually be tabled before the government to seek dedicated funding for grassland restoration and wolf conservation projects.