The Mexican Wolf Recovery Project 10th Anniversary
A total of 52 Mexican wolves were counted in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico at the end of 2008, according to the annual survey conducted by the Interagency Field Team for wolf reintroduction. There were also 52 Mexican wolves recorded in the 2007 survey. Surveys are conducted in January of each year. Pups born in the summer must survive to December 31 to be counted as part of the Mexican wolf population. Fixed-wing aircraft and functional radio-telemetry were used to confirm five wolf packs on New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, five packs on the Apache-Sitgraves National Forest and Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, and six lone wolves – two in Arizona and four in New Mexico. The survey indicated that there were only two pairs that met the federal definition of breeding pairs at year’s end.
Of the 52 wolves, 45 were born in the wild. One captive born female wolf (F836) was released to the wild in 2008. In 2008, one wolf was temporarily captured twice after dispersing outside of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, but the animal was translocated back into the recovery area on both occasions. Illegal shooting was the leading cause of documented loss of wolves in 2008.
If not for the illegal shooting or suspicious demise of seven wolves, 2008 would have seen Mexican wolf populations on the upswing again. These mortalities are an intolerable impediment to wolf recovery. All involved agencies will continue to aggressively investigate each illegal wolf killing to help ensure that anyone responsible is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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In 2008 no wolves were removed from the population for management purposes under the Adaptive management Oversight Committee (AMOC) Standard Operating Procedure. Seven of the 10 packs produced at least 18 pups, with 11 surviving until the end of the year. However, based on the definition in the final rule establishing the reintroduction project, the count only recognizes two breeding pairs because by year’s end, one or more of the mates in two packs had died. In addition, three packs had only a single offspring survive until December 31 (survival of two or more pups until December 31 in the year of their birth is required to qualify as a breeding pair). In two of these packs, one pup died under suspicious circumstances late in 2008, resulting in both packs not qualifying as a breeding pair.
The Mexican wolf recovery effort is, by far, one of the most complicated programs under the Endangered Species Act. The Bush administration’s last-minute efforts to thwart many of protections provided by the ESA have since been overturned by the new administration. Since illegal shooting of these animals is the greatest obstacle to this program’s success (45% of all mortalities) it is imperative that additional enforcement and investigation be implemented. It was expected that over 100 wolves were to be enjoying their freedom at this point in the program, but the unjustified actions of a few radicals have kept the numbers to their present levels.
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