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Conservation: Mexican WolfCanis lupis baileyi, Struggling but making a comeback in Arizona
The Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico continue to struggle with re-establishing themselves in a portion of their former range. There are many reasons to be hopeful, however that soon there will be a sustainable population of these wolves in the southwest. The Mexican Gray wolf is the smallest and southern most of the subspecies of the gray wolf, and also one of the most rare. These wolves once roamed the mountains of southeastern Arizona, central Mexico, southern New Mexico, and even portions of southwestern Texas, but predator removal efforts for the livestock industry extirpated them from the wild. It was listed as endangered in 1976. After years of meeting, planning, captive breeding, pushing, advocating, plus much more, 11 wolves were released into the Blue Range Recovery Area in March of 1998. A total of 14 packs have been introduced to date. The single greatest threat to these wolves is human inflexibility and intolerance. Since the reintroduction and recovery effort began, nine wolves have been shot, vehicles have hit three, and five have died from disease. Many of the wolves have been recaptured and relocated or recaptured and put back into captivity when they wandered from the recovery area, stayed near humans, or developed a taste for beef. (When wolves do take livestock, the owners of the livestock are compensated by Defenders of Wildlife's compensation fund.) Recently the entire Pipestem pack -- a pack with pups -- was recaptured after preying on livestock. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the shooting deaths of three of these wolves last fall. The agency is also continuing to investigate the illegal killing of four other wolves. Killing a Mexican gray wolf is a violation of the Federal Endangered Species Act and Arizona law. Anyone with information that might be helpful in this matter should contact U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agents in Mesa, AZ at (480) 835-8289 or Pinetop at (928) 367-5689; the White Mountain Apache Tribe at (928) 338-1023 or (928) 338-4385; or Arizona Game and Fish Operation Game Thief at 1-800-352-0700. While the shootings and the frequent recapturing of wolves is disturbing, there is much good news for the wolves. Recently, the White Mountain Apache Tribe decided to allow up to six Mexican gray wolf packs on the 1.5 million acres of reservation land. This gives the wolves the one thing they need most, more space, and especially more space where their interaction with humans and livestock will be limited. Despite being captive bred, the wolves have demonstrated that they can adapt to their life in the wild if given a chance. They can and will establish territories, form packs, hunt wild prey, mate and bear young, and do all the things that wild wolves should do. Currently, several of the females are believed to be denning, but as of deadline it was still early to confirm whether there were pups and how many. These wolves usually have between 4 and 6 pups sometime between mid-April and mid-May. Fifteen pups have been born in the wild to date, not counting this year. When there are more wolf pups that make it to yearling status and beyond and there are wild-born wolves that begin bearing their own young in the wild, then we will know that the Mexican gray wolf is really recovering and that we are headed to a time when this large predator resumes its natural role in mountains of eastern Arizona and New Mexico. TAKE ACTIONPlease take a moment to write and thank the White Mountain Apache Tribe for their support of wolf recovery. Direct your letters to: Dallas Massey, Sr., Chairman, White Mountain Apache Tribe, PO BOX 1150, Whiteriver, Arizona 85941, Fax (928) 338-1514. |
New! Mexican Wolf WebsiteTAKE ACTIONPlease take a moment to write and thank the White Mountain Apache Tribe for their support of wolf recovery. Direct your letters to: Dallas Massey, Sr., Chairman, White Mountain Apache Tribe, PO BOX 1150, Whiteriver, Arizona 85941, Fax (928) 338-1514. |
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