The number of wolf territories in Germany has stagnated for the first time since wolves began to recolonize the country 25 years ago. This is the result of monitoring by the Federal Documentation and Advisory Agency 2024/2025 up to April 30.
As in previous years, the nationwide wolf population is concentrated in the area from Lower Saxony via Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg to Saxony.
However, wolf territories were also detected in all other federal states (except Saarland). The area has increased by almost five percent. In particular, the occurrences in the known regions are becoming more concentrated and gaps are being closed.
In the south and west of the country, wolves are also establishing themselves in new areas, but the confirmed occurrences are still often far apart from each other, the report continued.
Most wolves in Lower Saxony and Brandenburg
A total of 276 territories were confirmed: 219 wolf packs, 43 wolf pairs and 14 territorial individuals. Most wolf territories were in Lower Saxony (63) and Brandenburg (60), followed by Saxony (46), Saxony-Anhalt (38) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (34).
At least 1,636 individual wolves were living in Germany (as of 10 November 2025): 544 wolves could be classified as adults, while it was not possible to determine whether a further 62 were adults. In addition, 183 yearlings (wolves in their second year of life) and 769 pups (wolves in their first year of life) were detected. For 34 individuals, it was not certain whether they were yearlings or pups, while the age of a further 44 individuals could not be determined at all.
In the 2024/25 monitoring year, 163 wolves were found dead. The most common cause of death by far was still (road) traffic: 124 animals died in this way.
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