The Endangered Mexican Wolf
The Mexican wolf is a tremendous success story...almost. By 1976, the Mexican wolf, or lobo, was completed wiped out in the United States. The handful of wild wolves that remained in Mexico were captured to start a captive population, which has been the source for wolves that have been reintroduced into Arizona and New Mexico since 1998.
The released wolves have done their part. They have learned how to hunt wild elk and deer, and are restoring balance to our wildlands. Unfortunately, politics have gotten in the way of their full recovery. The Southwest Environmental Center is working to bring about the management changes and public support needed to make sure that Mexican wolf recovery succeeds.
While reintroduced wolves have thrived in the Northern Rockies, the Mexican wolf population remains dangerously low, with only about 40 wolves in an area twice the size of Yellowstone. The difference is in the rules governing the reintroduction program. Because of these rules, wolves have been shot by the government, more have died inadvertently because of capture, and at least 24 have been trapped and permanently removed from the wild since the reintroduction began.
Hopefully that will soon change. The Southwest Environmental Center and other groups are urging the Obama administration and Congress to take these actions:
- Support legislation for a federally-funded, voluntary livestock grazing permit retirement program that generously compensates willing leaseholders on public lands in and around the Recovery Area for ceding their grazing privileges. This would require the Forest Service and BLM to permanently retire allotments from livestock use.
- Release more wolves into the wild to strengthen and enhance the genetic fitness of the wild population.
- Allow direct release of wolves from the captive population into the Gila National Forest (currently only allowed after wolves have initially been released into Arizona).
- Allow wolves to roam beyond the boundaries of recovery area. (Currently they are recaptured and returned if they cross the boundaries, even if they aren’t causing any problems.)
- Require livestock operators who lease public lands in the wolf recovery area to practice responsible husbandry practices, such as disposal of carcasses, seasonal (versus year-round) grazing, using penned calving areas, etc.