AZ students help name Mexican gray wolf near Flagstaff
BY: ARIZONA DAILY SUN STAFF
Originally published August 13, 2024 in the Arizona Daily Sun: https://azdailysun.com/news/local/arizona-students-help-name-mexican-gray-wolf-near-flagstaff/article_abc79324-536d-11ef-90f8-0796d2f5e233.html
Arizona students recently helped rename a Mexican gray wolf that was captured and collared by the Arizona Game and Fish Department in July.
The students proposed the name Hope for Mexican gray wolf F2979. Hope and at least one more wolf make up the “Kendrick Peak pack,” as they have roamed lands west of Flagstaff since early June.
“It’s thrilling to see them flourish in new territories, living as they have for millennia,” a student from BASIS Mesa Charter School said in the announcement. “My excitement continually grows in supporting the wolves.”
The pack is the first family of wolves confirmed in this location since the government eradicated Mexican wolves in the 1930s. According to the July 30 announcement, Game and Fish plans to use Hope to locate packmates north of Interstate 40 and send them back within the current recovery area.
“We’re so excited about Hope and her family exploring the ideal habitat of the Grand Canyon region,” said Claire Musser, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. “This is exactly what a healthy wolf population should be doing: roaming freely and finding new territories to call their own.”
The City of Flagstaff passed a resolution in 2021 to support the recovery of Mexican Gray wolves in northern Arizona and scientists have recommended additional subpopulations be included in the wolves’ recovery plan, including in the Grand Canyon ecoregion and the southern Rockies (northern New Mexico and southern parts of Colorado).
The announcement noted that harming a Mexican gray wolf violates both state law and the Federal Endangered Species Act. Doing so can result in criminal penalties up to $50,000, forfeiture of vehicles and firearms and/or up to a year in jail, and/or an up to $25,000 civil penalty.
“Hope and her family are showing us just what Mexican gray wolves need to recover — room to roam and the freedom to make a life for themselves in a suitable hatitat of their choosing,” said Erin Hunt, managing director of Lobos for the Southwest. “It’s up to us to honor their choices and let them stay.”
