The IUCN/SSC
Wolf Specialist Group (WSG) led by L. David Mech and Luigi Boitani will
be meeting just prior to the International Wolf Center's symposium:
Wolves and Humans at the Crossroads, Thursday, October 10, 2013 from 2:00-4:00 pm.
Eight to twelve members will be attending and giving presentations. Visitors
are welcome to attend the meeting as observers.
The gray wolf was originally the most widely distributed land mammal, and
it still inhabits most of the northern hemisphere. Because of the wolf's
extensive range and because of its tendency to compete with humans throughout
most of its range the IUCN's Survival Service Commission (the predecessor to
the Species Survival Commission) founded the Wolf Specialist Group in 1970,
with Douglas Pimlott of Canada as its chair. Mech succeeded Pimlott in 1978
and has held the post since. In 2009, Mech was reappointed as co-chair of the
group with Luigi Boitani.
Manifesto on Wolf Conservation
The Wolf Specialist Group (WSG) when formed in the early 1970s derived this
Manifesto as the group's basic philosophy on wolf conservation and
updated it twice since. The Manifesto has been approved by the entire IUCN
and thus represents the way the IUCN recommends wolf conservation be carried
out by member states, countries, and organizations.
The WSG functions primarily by informal and formal collaboration among its
members. Wolves are circumpolar, so WSG members represent many countries.
Members usually meet at least once every five years, exchange information
about wolf conservation problems peculiar to each area, publish status and
conservation information about wolves in each area via the Canid Action Plan,
and send resolutions promoting conservation actions to member countries as
needed. The WSG also supports and cooperates with wolf conservation efforts
of its members, such as the establishment of the International Wolf Center,
and attempts to coordinate wolf conservation among various countries through
the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe.
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