The Mexican Gray Wolf, an Endangered Subspecies

With Few Remaining, Can New Laws Solidify this Gray Wolf's Future?

Nov 5, 2009

Over the last century, many sub-species of gray wolves have been identified. Several of them have since disappeared. Is the Mexican wolf next to go?

Gray wolves are wide-ranging, adaptable creatures. Yet, they don't exist in great numbers. Some subspecies are not endangered, and others have been revived through conservation efforts. They roam Canada and Asia and some northern U.S. states, like Alaska and Minnesota.

Other subspecies are in serious decline. In Europe, gray wolf sightings are rare, having been hunted nearly to extinction. Likewise, the Mexican gray wolf was once functionally extinct in the United States, with Mexican sightings growing fewer and farther between.

Like the red wolf, the Mexican wolf owes its existence to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's diligent efforts. Still, lest not forgot it was Americans who nearly killed it. Competing forces now hold the Mexican wolf's future in their hands. Will conservationists prevail, or will the Mexican wolf be just another forgotten casualty of egocentric human cohabitation?

According to the website of Defenders of Wildlife, an organization dedicated to preserving American endangered species, Mexican wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) are "the smallest subspecies of North American gray wolves." They are also the most endangered. Also called lobo or lobo Mexicano, Mexican wolves are gray with brown fur on their backs.

Mexican wolves range from 4.5 to 5.5 feet long, measuring from nose to tail. They weigh from 60 to 80 pounds, with larger males comparable in size to a German shepherd. Captive wolves may live up to 15 years.

According to MexicanWolves.org, "[l]obos have a keen sense of smell, excellent hearing and highly sensitive vision." These wolves are smart, pack-living animals that maintain vast territories and "communicate through howling, body language and scent marking."

Mexican wolves once inhabited the American Southwest from Arizona eastward into Texas and southward into Mexico. By the 1970s, they had disappeared from the U.S. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the U.S. and Mexican governments, a new population has arisen. Today, "around 50 wild wolves roam the headwaters of the Gila River in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico," says MexicanWolves.org.

Mexican wolves are carnivores. They eat deer and elk, as well as smaller mammals (e.g., rabbits and rodents). They also have a reputation for scavenging, preying upon animal carcasses, including those of livestock. Mexican wolves sometimes attack live domesticated animals, a practice that has led to many a wolf's demise. Wolf attacks on humans, however, are very rare.

In the U.S., gray wolves were widespread until the early 20th century. Viewing them as threats to livestock, Americans declared war on Mexican wolves; the government promoted their extermination. According to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park's website, "it was almost a total victory: by the 1980s, only a handful of Mexican wolves survived." Believed to be the last of their kind, five wolves were captured. From these animals, the future of Mexican wolves would be rewritten.

What Can Be Done to Protect Mexican Gray Wolves?

Plucking the last wolves from their habitats, the U.S. and Mexico established a joint breeding program. In 1982, the countries designed the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Plan. The plan's ambitions were high, including the "re-establishment of a viable self-sustaining population of at least 100 wolves in the wild within the Mexican wolf’s historic range," per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Success came slowly. In 1998, two decades after their ancestors were captured, 11 captive wolves were released into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, a substantial territory covering from central Arizona to central New Mexico.

Now, another decade has passed. Progress remains slow. According to Associate Press journalist Susan Montoya Bryan, "[t]here are now about 50 wolves in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico . . . half of what biologists had hoped to have by now."

What's hindering the Mexican wolf's recovery? Bryan's article, "Fund will help ranchers deal with Mexican wolves," blames rancher complaints, illegal shootings, and wolf removal pursuant to a rule permitting federal agents to kill or capture wolves that have attacked livestock three times in one year.

Nevertheless, Bryan's article expresses hope — the Mexican Wolf Interdiction Trust Fund, executed in October 2009, compensates ranchers for lost livestock and "finance[s] grazing techniques that prevent depredation by wolves." In theory, the fund will encourage ranchers to be more wolf-friendly. Whether it works in practice remains to be seen.

This carrot-and-stick approach may be the best method for preserving the Mexican wolf. Financial incentives to ranchers who restrain their wolf-slaying tendencies and engage in habitat-sharing grazing practices essentially equates to paying people to do the right thing. However, getting people to do the right thing is the highest priority.

As for the stick, those who illegally kill Mexican wolves should not be spared the rod. Strictly enforced penalties and hefty fines, enough to cover the fund's costs, should be imposed. Mexican wolves are predators, but no predators are fiercer than humans. Without greater tolerance and greater punishment for the intolerant, the Mexican gray wolf's future is destined to mirror its past.

The copyright of the article The Mexican Gray Wolf, an Endangered Subspecies in Endangered Species is owned by Jason Parent. Permission to republish The Mexican Gray Wolf, an Endangered Subspecies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.