Urge the government to release more wolves into the wild where they belong
The 2017 year-end count shows only 114 in the wild, a tiny increase from 113 the previous year. The Mexican gray wolf remains a whisker away from extinction. Due to USFWS’s failure to release new wolves from the captive breeding population, the genetic diversity of the wild population remains low.
Time is running out to save the genetic health of endangered Mexican gray wolves. Thank you for speaking out on behalf of these special wolves today.
When Mexican gray wolves were first introduced into the wild in 1998, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) projected there would be 100 wolves in the wilds of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico by 2006. More than a decade later, the total population is only at 114 wolves – a whisker away from extinction.
Due to USFWS’s failure to release enough new wolves from the captive breeding population, the genetic diversity of the wild population remains low, in spite of the increase in numbers.
For over 3 decades, captive breeding programs in the U.S. and Mexico have worked to maximize genetic diversity so that captive wolves could be released to increase the wild population’s genetic health. But USFWS has released very few of these wolves. They have not released any adult wolves from captivity since 2015, opting instead to rely solely on the tricky method of cross-fostering, which places captive pups in a wild den. Please tell USFWS to release more Mexican wolves into the wild where they belong, and ask others to do the same.
Personalize the talking points/sample email below and send a message to the USFWS, urging them to release more wolves from the captive population.
Dear Dr. Lueders,The wild population of Mexican wolves is at tremendous risk due to its small size and genetics. The recent cross fosters are good steps towards improving the wild population’s genetic health, but are not nearly enough. Many more wolves should be released this year from the hundreds in captive breeding programs and cross fostering should not be the only type of release undertaken.For over 3 decades, captive breeding programs in the U.S. and Mexico have worked to maximize genetic diversity so that captive wolves could be released to increase the wild population’s genetic health. But USFWS has squandered the work of these programs by releasing very few of these wolves. The twelve cross fosters in the agency’s plan for 2018 are overly optimistic and wholly inadequate to recover the lobo.Please stop letting wild wolves languish in captivity while the wild population’s genetic health suffers. Release significant numbers of new wolves into the wild where they belong.
Sincerely,
[Name, Address]
Send your email to: RDLueders@fws.gov
