Action Alert: Free Los Lobos! Get More Wolf Packs on the Ground

Nagual’s Pack is Still Waiting For Their Freedom.

Since they were first paired up in November of 2009, male Mexican wolf M968, known as Nagual, and female wolf F1064 have borne a litter of five pups, and another litter may be on the way. They had their first litter while preparing for their release into Arizona, planned for the summer of 2010.

Nearly a year later, this wolf family is still waiting to be released. They shouldn’t be forced to wait much longer.  Releases of pairs with young pups usually take place in mid-June to mid-July. Tell the Fish and Wildlife Service the time is coming to release Nagual’s pack, as well as all the other Mexican wolves ready to enter the wild.

The Mexican wolf, or lobo, has been relentlessly persecuted despite being one of the world’s rarest land mammals. Before 1970, they disappeared from the Southwestern U.S., eliminated by predator control campaigns. Restoration of the wild population began in 1998 with releases from a captive breeding program. The program began with only five wolves captured in Mexico — likely the last of the remaining wild lobos.

But since the lobos’ return to the Southwest in 1998, over 30 wolves have been illegally shot, while 11 more have been legally killed for conflicting with ranchers’ livestock and a further 39 have been removed from the wild and not yet re-released.

Today, fewer than 55 lobos roam free, yet the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not released any new wolf packs from captivity since November 2008.

Let the FWS know you support the release of Nagual’s pack and other Mexican wolves held in captivity.

The wild lands of Arizona and New Mexico are ready and waiting for these wolves.  The wild population of lobos needs new members.  Nagual’s pack and other wolves in captivity need their freedom. They should be released this summer.

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According to US Fish and Wildlife Service statistics, as of December 2010, there are only two breeding pairs of Mexican gray wolves in the Blue Range Recovery Area.  The release of the Nagual Pack is important not just for the immediate increase in wild population numbers, but also because male wolf M968 and female wolf F1064 have already successfully bred and would hopefully continue to do so in the wild.  Another benefit of releasing this pack is to increase the genetic diversity of the overall population.       

You can click on this link to sign and send a letter, which you can personalize.

To send a personal email using the talking points in this alert to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southwest Regional Director, Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, click here.

Thanks for all you do to help our critically endangered Lobos!

Photo credit: Mexican wolf family courtesy of the Endangered Wolf Center