Gray wolves are gone from Massachusetts today. NatureServe lists the species SX, presumed extirpated, in the state, and unregulated hunting and land clearing eliminated wolves from southern New England well before most of the region’s other large predators disappeared. The 22 records from 2000 to 2026 don’t point to a wild population either: five are tied to Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, and the rest most likely reflect captive animals or uncertain identifications.
Those records cluster loosely in February and March and again across October and November, too few and too scattered to describe any real seasonal pattern. Coyotes have since filled much of the ecological role wolves once played in Massachusetts, and the state has no active reintroduction effort underway.
Full species profile
