Ask Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to stop the kill order targeting endangered Mexican gray wolf Fortis.

Newly released records reveal that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to kill two genetically valuable Mexican gray wolves. But the truth is that every wolf matters, each playing a role in their family and ecosystem. Each loss is a setback to recovery.

A 3-month-old female pup was shot recently on public lands in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.

The other targeted wolf, a young adult male in the Bear Canyon pack named Fortis, or M3008, is still alive in the Apache National Forest in Arizona. The Department of Agriculture shot his mother, Asiza, from the air in April while she was thought to be pregnant. Recently, he has found a mate, Enid, or F2992. 

It is not too late to save Fortis and Enid, but they need you to raise your voice now!

Ask Secretary Burgum to tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to immediately rescind the kill order targeting Fortis. 

Please personalize the sample email, and as always, please be respectful. 

When you are ready to send your email, use the U.S. Department of the Interior contact form.

You can also call the Secretary’s office at (202) 208-3100 and personalize the talking points to use over the phone. If you are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services. 

Thank you for being a voice for wild lobos!

SAMPLE EMAIL/PHONE SCRIPT

Remember to make it personal to make it count!

• The kill order targeting Fortis, or male Mexican gray wolf M3008, should be rescinded immediately. 
• No wolf killing on public lands because of livestock. Native wildlife should be the priority on public lands.
• We all must exercise responsible stewardship on public lands. Ranchers using public lands must proactively protect their livestock and must remove livestock carrion before wolves consume it and potentially become drawn into proximity with vulnerable live cattle. The responsibility to coexist falls on the people using public lands.
• Mexican gray wolves are suffering from a genetic crisis caused in part by heavy-handed wolf killing and removals from the wild. The very agencies charged with conserving Mexican wolves are putting their future at risk by killing genetically valuable individuals who could be contributing to the recovery of the subspecies.
• Previous government wolf killings and a shutdown almost two decades ago on releases of well-bonded family packs to the wild led to significant losses of genetic diversity. Genetically rare wolves like those targeted can aid recovery because they are not as closely related to other wolves.
• It is not only cruel to destroy wolf families by killing members of a pack. It also contributes to increases in livestock conflict when packs become destabilized. Without the strong family bonds and leadership of experienced pack members, destabilized packs may be more likely to go after vulnerable cattle, further perpetuating conflict. Proactive nonlethal conflict prevention is far more effective and ethical.  
• Wolf recovery requires science, not politics. The recovery effort should be driven by the ecological needs of Mexican wolves and the wild places they call home, not special interests who have a wolf removal agenda.

Thank you for taking action for wild lobos!