ABQjournal: Experts: Wolf Recovery Program Failing
By Tania Soussan
Copyright © 2006 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer

The wild Mexican gray wolf population has been shrinking— rather than growing as it should— as wolves are removed from the wild for repeatedly killing livestock.

Almost an entire pack died in late May, and a separate lone wolf was shot by the wolf reintroduction program team last week, all for racking up too many depredations.

The conflict between livestock and wolves is nothing new. But expansion of wolf territories and ongoing drought are adding new stresses to the reintroduction program that aims to bring back wolves to southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona.

Critics, both environmentalists who favor wolf reintroduction and ranchers who don’t want wolves near their cows, say the losses are a sign the program is failing. …

In 1996, the Fish and Wildlife Service set population goals for the wolf program— 15 breeding pairs and 83 wolves in the wild by the end of last year, and 18 breeding pairs and 102 wolves in the wild by the end of this year.

Program managers put the count for the end of 2005 at five breeding pairs and 35-49 wolves in the wild. (The current count is 31-45 adults plus an unknown number of pups.)

Morgart calls it “an absolute minimum count.” Ranchers agree and say there are likely twice as many wolves on the ground. Environmentalists say the numbers fall on the high end.

The wild population has also been declining since it hit a high point of 55 wolves at the end of 2003.
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Mexican Wolf Conservation and Management

About 50 to 60 along Arizona-New Mexico border now, due to releases beginning in 1998, and more than 200 in various captive breeding facilities in the United States and Mexico.

– View the latest 3-month wolf distribution map
– View printer-friendly version of 3-month wolf map

Habitat:
Principally oak, pine, and juniper woodlands and forests, grasslands, and riparian corridors, in broken, sloping country. Generally above 4,000 feet elevation, occasionally lower.