The Mexican wolf is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Once common throughout portions of the southwestern United States, the Mexican wolf was all but eliminated from the wild by the 1970s.
At last count earlier this year, just 50 highly endangered Mexican gray wolves roamed a small portion of New Mexico and Arizona. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under pressure to kill or remove some of these wolves for depredating on livestock.
Humans pose the greatest threat to Mexican gray wolves. At one point, humans literally eliminated these animals from the wild and it took an unprecedented captive breeding program to keep them from disappearing forever. Today, efforts to restore them to their natural place in the ecosystem are met with a number of challenges.
The Southwest's small population of endangered Mexican wolves, once driven to the brink of extinction, has increased for the fourth year in a row, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Mexican wolf is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Once common throughout portions of the southwestern United States, the Mexican wolf was all but eliminated from the wild by the 1970s.
At last count earlier this year, just 50 highly endangered Mexican gray wolves roamed a small portion of New Mexico and Arizona. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under pressure to kill or remove some of these wolves for depredating on livestock.
Humans pose the greatest threat to Mexican gray wolves. At one point, humans literally eliminated these animals from the wild and it took an unprecedented captive breeding program to keep them from disappearing forever. Today, efforts to restore them to their natural place in the ecosystem are met with a number of challenges.
The Southwest's small population of endangered Mexican wolves, once driven to the brink of extinction, has increased for the fourth year in a row, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
