For now, no more wolves for Arizona

The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife has delayed releasing additional Mexican gray wolves in Arizona until sometime next year.

The gray-wolf population is stagnating in the Southwest, and the animal is vilified by some ranchers as an unwelcome predator being reintroduced to the region by the government. The federal government late last week agreed with the Arizona Game and Fish Department that the release of a pack of eight wolves in southeastern Arizona should be postponed.

Federal officials said there was no consensus on where the wolves would be released and they had not scheduled a new date. "It just wasn't the right time for a successful release," a spokesman told the Associated Press.

A survey this year found only 42 wolves in the wild, a 19% decline from last year. Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity blasted the delay. “Continuing to postpone this wolf family’s release casts fresh doubts on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s commitment to recovering this highly endangered and iconic animal of the Southwest,” he said.

-- Nicholas Riccardi

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Photo: Annie Belt / Center for Biological Diversity

 

Comments

[TLM]

The problem is releasing habituated wolves - they don't have any truly wild Mexican "wolves" - captive raised. They won't stay in the wilderness, they head for the domestic livestock.

[TheIdahoKid]

Ah! shucks, and we have so many extra, of course they are Canadian gray wolves, but then maybe we could call them snow bird wolves, how many do you need 500 no problem.........bet Montana, and Wyoming would toss in 500 each

[michael g]

Mexican wolves, although beautiful, are also dangerous to people and livestock. If the U.S. Government will compensate the various ranchers and landowners in the area for losses, then they should be re-released into the wild. However, first let's get some imput from the ranchers themselves rather than the "feel good" enviro-whack jobs that make our hard-working American ranchers and farmers the bad guys...

[somsai]

Finally some good news.

[Matt ramirez]

Now they dont like Mexican Wolves?????? In all seriousness, these animals were once part of the eco system here and man has once again killed for profit.