Humans have interacted with wolves for around 15,000 to 40,000 years. Since some are suspected to have been domesticated, leading to C. l. familiaris (the domestic dog).

When Europeans first came to North America they slowly began to eradicate the wolf populations, to keep their towns/cities/villages safe from wolf attacks, and importantly, to prevent depredation of their cattle. This led to wolves being almost extinct. They were fully wiped out of Yellowstone and had to be re-introduced.

Wolves were listed as endangered in 1974 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They were delisted in 2012. Though in 2014, a US Federal Court ordered a stop to the hunting of wolves in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.