18 July 2016
It’s Hard out Here for a Lobo
Posted by: Eva Sargent

Attacks in court and in Congress undermine the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf

Last month, a federal district judge granted New Mexico a preliminary injunction in the state’s case against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), forcing the agency to stop all releases of Mexican gray wolves. Without these releases, we could lose the lobo forever – it’s the only way to improve the wild population’s genetic health.

For years, the FWS delayed releasing wolves due to loud anti-wolf voices in both Arizona and New Mexico. When they stepped up to the plate this year and released two pups in New Mexico in April, with plans to also release two more adult wolves, New Mexico’s Game and Fish Department sued them. The state requested a halt to all lobo releases while the court considers the lawsuit, and demanded that officials recapture the released pups. While the court thankfully denied the recapture, they did halt all releases of lobos into the wild in New Mexico – at least temporarily.

Progress is halted, and the attacks continue

While the case is being hashed out in court, the window for captive-born wolf pups to be accepted into a wild wolf pack, or for releases of adult wolves and their pups, has closed for the year. Pups are born in the spring, and adult wild wolves only accept captive newborn pups into their dens when their own wild pups are days old. Warmer seasons also mean more grass for deer and elk, which means more food for growing wolf families to eat.

Before this year’s pup releases, only four wolves had been released during the entire Obama administration. Now with the stalemate with New Mexico, the declining Mexican gray wolf population continues to slide towards extinction. At the last official count in February, there were only 97 wild Mexican gray wolves in the United States, and fewer than 25 in Mexico.

SNIP