Will New Listing Save the Last 52 Mexican Gray Wolves?
The Mexican gray wolf population continues to struggle at just 52 wolves. However, listing the species as a “distinct population segment” may hold the key to recovery.
The Center for Biological Diversity issued a press release today to announce that they have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to formally separate the Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) from other wolf populations in the United States and list it as either an endangered subspecies or a “distinct population segment.”
Although a 1982 reintroduction effort along the Arizona-New Mexico line hoped to result in at least 100 wolves in the wild, and 18 breeding pairs by 2006, the most recent survey - conducted in 2008 - found only 52 wolves. Unfortunately, illegal shootings, combined with complaints by ranchers who claim to have lost cattle to wolves (wolves that have been involved in three livestock kills in a year can be killed or trapped by federal agents), have taken their toll on the reintroduction plan.
