Category Archives: wolves

Sea Wolves

Meet The Rare Sea Wolves Who Live Off The Ocean And Can Swim For Hours – Healthy Food House

McAllister explains: “We know from exhaustive DNA studies that these wolves are genetically distinct from their continental kin. They are behaviourally distinct, swimming from island to island and preying on sea animals. They are also morphologically distinct — they are smaller in size and physically different from their mainland counterparts.”  Paquet maintains that these types of coastal wolves aren’t an anomaly, but a remnant:  “There’s little doubt these wolves once lived along Washington State’s coast too. Humans wiped them out. They still live on islands in southeast Alaska, but they’re heavily persecuted there.”

Remarkable photos at the link.

Fed proposal gives wolves wider range | Albuquerque Journal News

This is a huge and surprising change. The best to come out of this is the feds can stop wasting time relocating wolves from suitable habitat. The downside is more people will get a chance to shoot wolves.

Fed proposal gives wolves wider range | Albuquerque Journal News

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service laid out its plan for the future of the endangered Mexican gray wolf on Thursday, which includes allowing the reintroduced wolves to roam a much larger area.

But an environmental group says the plan also makes it too easy for ranchers and state agencies to kill the wolves – a problem the group’s director says has long hindered the recovery effort in New Mexico and Arizona.

“We’re glad Mexican wolves will be allowed to roam more widely and will be introduced directly into New Mexico,” said Michael Robinson with the Silver City-based Center for Biological Diversity. “But increasing the authority to kill wolves is disappointing and will further imperil them.”

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Fed proposal gives wolves wider range | Albuquerque Journal News

Let the wolves into El Malpais

If wolves can survive in El Malpais, let them in. Those of us who hike in that area would love the chance to see them.

Gray wolf breeding pair released in Arizona | Albuquerque Journal News

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed expanding the area where the predators are allowed to roam, but it could be months before a final decision is reached. Until then, the agency is required to capture those wolves found outside the nearly 7,000-square-mile wolf-recovery area, which straddles the Arizona-New Mexico line.

That was the case with a pair that had traveled north to El Malpais National Monument near Grants. They had been in the area since February before wildlife managers darted and captured them last Friday.

This was the farthest north a pair of Mexican gray wolves had been documented, said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity.

“This is excellent habitat. It’s remote country, and filled with deer,” he said. “This would have been an opportunity for the population to expand naturally.”

Gray wolf breeding pair released in Arizona | Albuquerque Journal News

Poll Shows Residents of NM and AZ Overwhelmingly Support Restoration of Mexican Gray Wolves in the Wild | New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

Poll Shows Residents of NM and AZ Overwhelmingly Support Restoration of Mexican Gray Wolves in the Wild | New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

  • 87% of voters in both states agree that wolves are a “vital part of America’s wilderness and natural heritage.”
  • 8 in 10 voters agree that the FWS should make every effort to prevent extinction.
  • 82% of Arizona voters and 74% of New Mexico voters agree there should be a science-based recovery plan.
  • Over two-thirds of voters in both states agree with scientists who say there are too few Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico and that we need to reintroduce two new populations of wolves in suitable habitat in the states.
  • Poll Shows Residents of NM and AZ Overwhelmingly Support Restoration of Mexican Gray Wolves in the Wild | New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

    Grand Canyon elk go from attraction to menace — wolves can make a difference

    We wiped out the elk and wolves in this area. Then we brought back elk. Time to let the wolves restore balance, just as they have done in Yellowstone.

    Grand Canyon elk go from attraction to menace

    Elk, once a rare sight at the national park, now regularly jam up the park’s roads, graze on hotel lawns and aren’t too shy about displaying their power, provoked or not. They’ve broken bones and caused eye injuries in the most serious circumstances, and give chase to the unsuspecting. …

    Elk brought in by train from Yellowstone National Park helped re-establish the Arizona populations after the state’s native elk became extinct around 1900.

    They’re now too close to the Grand Canyon’s most popular areas for comfort.

    Grand Canyon elk go from attraction to menace

    Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project – Home

    A Wolf Awareness Relay Hike in the path of natural dispersal from the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area to the Grand Canyon

    paseo-del-lobo-trail-map-2-thumbThe Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project is excited to host our second wolf advocacy campaign relay hike from July to October 2013 that will follow a natural dispersal corridor, connecting the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area (where Mexican gray wolves currently live) to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (where we are advocating for their return). Mexican wolves are capable of traversing hundreds of miles, and need room to roam in order to establish a metapopulation structure to preserve remaining genetic diversity.

    Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project – Home

    "Public Is Behind Wolves; Will Government Get the Message?"

    I wish I still felt this way. Unfortunately, the people who hate wolves hate the government. While we politely rally for the wolves, the haters have them in their gunsights — quite literally. Sometimes rebels are merely criminals and thugs who bathe themselves in blood.

    ABQJournal Online » Public Is Behind Wolves; Will Government Get the Message? by Billie Hughes

    Fourteen years after those initial reintroductions, the wolves continue to struggle, however. It is not because they are not doing their part. They are forming packs – family units – breeding, raising young and killing elk and deer. They are fulfilling their role in the ecosystem. We need to fulfill our role as stewards, as people with a responsibility to these animals, their ecosystem, and to future generations of Americans. We must ensure that these animals have a chance and that our children can hear their howls decades from now. There is strong support from the public for that. Now we need our government at all levels to get that message.

    ABQJournal Online » Public Is Behind Wolves; Will Government Get the Message?

    Let the mean-spirited wicked bastards win » Ah, Wilderness!

    Let the mean-spirited wicked bastards win

    I no longer support efforts to restore the lobo to its rightful habitat in the wildlands of New Mexico. Yes, the blood-thirsty, cold-hearted sons-of-bitches can have their way, just like well-armed babies. Yes, the late-comers who claim they own all public lands can deny the majority its will. Yes, a small number of cowardly dimwits can determine the fate of the ecosystem.

    Now and then, ugly, stupid, mean, and wrong triumph. I’m tired of the slaughter of decent animals by indecent ones.

    Wolves may aid recovery of Canada lynx, a threatened species

    Wolves may aid recovery of Canada lynx, a threatened species

    ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2011) — As wolf populations grow in parts of the West, most of the focus has been on their value in aiding broader ecosystem recovery — but a new study from Oregon State University also points out that they could play an important role in helping to save other threatened species.

    In research published in Wildlife Society Bulletin, scientists suggest that a key factor in the Canada lynx being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act is the major decline of snowshoe hares. The loss of hares, the primary food of the lynx, in turn may be caused by coyote populations that have surged in the absence of wolves. Scientists call this a "trophic cascade" of impacts.

    The increase in these secondary "mesopredators" has caused significant ecosystem disruption and, in this case, possibly contributed to the decline of a threatened species, the scientists say.

    "The increase in mesopredators such as coyotes is a serious issue; their populations are now much higher than they used to be when wolves were common in most areas of the United States," said William Ripple, a professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at OSU.

    Wolves may aid recovery of Canada lynx, a threatened species