Act Now! Three endangered Mexican wolves targeted for government trapping

The Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has ordered the trapping of three critically endangered wild Mexican gray wolves. The alpha male and female of the Paradise Pack in Arizona and a male of the Fox Mountain Pack in New Mexico will be taken from their homes and forced to spend the remainder of their lives in captivity.

At last official count, there were only 75 Mexican gray wolves in the wild, making them the most endangered mammal in north America, and the most endangered wolf in the world. Every single wild Mexican wolf is a loss, yet USFWS continues to treat these wolves as expendable.

Since 1998, the government has removed 54 wolves from the wild. Most were trapped and 13 were shot by predator-control agents. Federal agencies still don’t require livestock owners using public lands to take basic steps to prevent conflict, such as removing carcasses of dead cattle and other proven successful prevention measures.  And it has been almost five years since USFWS successfully released a new Mexican wolf into the wild.

Please call the USFWS and your members of congress and tell them these wolves deserve to live their lives out in the wild. Share this message with everyone you know and ask them to do the same.

Here are three key points to make when you call:

1. These wolves should be kept in the wild.

Wolves are social animals that rely on family members in hunting and pup rearing.  Trapping or darting these wolves, and removing them forever, will disrupt their pack structure, which research has shown leads to more livestock issues, not fewer. It will place these wolves and all of the wolves near them at risk, since capture carries a high risk of accidental death or injury. And it will set us back to the policy of scapegoating wolves who occasionally prey on livestock — even when the stock-owner is reimbursed.

2. The US Fish and Wildlife Service should release many more wolves, not remove them.

At last count, just 75 wolves including three breeding pairs survived in the wild. If the USFWS is truly concerned about the growth of the population and its genetic health, the answer is more releases of captive wolves, not more wild wolves lost to risky trapping operations and permanent captivity.  Instead of taking these wolves from their homes, USFWS needs to focus on expediting releases of many more wolves from captivity to strengthen the wild population.

3. Removing or killing critically endangered Mexican gray wolves is not the solution to livestock conflicts.

There are many solutions to conflicts between livestock and wolves, but there are very few Mexican gray wolves. Livestock businesses on public lands are reimbursed for losses and can receive government and non-profit assistance for non-lethal proactive measures to avoid depredation-they have a responsibility to do so. Deterrents to livestock conflicts are the solutions, not removing more endangered Mexican wolves.

If you live in New Mexico, calls to your Senators are the top priority. If you live elsewhere, calls to the US Fish and Wildlife Service are the priority. If you can call your members of Congress and the USFWS, that will help most.

New Mexico Senators
Senator Martin Heinrich DC: 202-224-6621 ABQ: 505-346-6601
Senator Tom Udall DC: 202-224-5521 ABQ: 505-346-6791

USFWS Southwest Regional Office
External Affairs Office: 505-248-6911
Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator: 505-761-4748
Main Office: 505-248-6920

USFWS in Washington, DC Public number: 1-800-344-9453

Your Congressional representatives (click here to find numbers)

Your Senators outside of New Mexico (click here to find numbers)

Phone calls usually carry more weight than emails, but if you absolutely can’t call, click here for email contacts.

At the same time the USFWS is attempting to trap these wolves, it is taking comments on proposal to change Mexican wolf management. Part of the proposal could help get more wolves into the wild, but most of it threatens the Mexican wolf’s continued survival and recovery. Your comments are needed to help lobos survive beyond the current crisis. Click here.

Once you’ve acted, we’d appreciate an email to let us know: info@mexicanwolves.org

Thank you for all you do for these beautiful, intelligent, highly endangered animals! They would thank you too, if they could.