Wolf-relocation project struggles as lobos fall prey to guns and cars

Arizona Republic (original)  Posted on May 25, 2013 by Brandon Loomis

ALPINE -- A brown-streaked wolf — named Ernesta by her admiring captors — bounded from a crate and onto Arizona soil. She carries in her womb the newest hopes for a rare native species that is struggling to regain a footing in the Southwest. Her government-sponsored April 25 relocation with her mate, from New Mexico's Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge to a mountain south of Alpine, was the first in the state for a captive-bred pair of Mexican gray wolves in more than four years.

The last time a new canine couple sniffed freedom in these mountains, in fall 2008, they didn't last the winter. Someone shot the female almost immediately, and the male disappeared by February.

"It's a tough life for wolves in the wild," Endangered Wolf Center animal-care director Regina Mossotti said after watching the latest pair bolt from their crates last month in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. The Missouri non-profit center is part of a breeding program and has nurtured both of the transplanted wolves at times. Mossotti felt a special kinship with the female she helped raise, and she was a little anxious.

Biologist Say Proposal to Remove Protections Fails to Follow Best Science

Press Release (original) by the Center for Biological Diversity
For Immediate Release, May 21, 2013

Contacts:
Carlos Carroll, (530) 628-3512
Bradley Bergstrom, (229) 333-5770
Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495

WASHINGTON— In two sharply worded letters sent to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today, prominent scientists argued for continued protections for gray wolves across the lower 48 states and criticized a draft federal proposal to remove those protections for being premature and failing to follow the best available science. One of the letters came from the American Society of Mammalogists, the other from 16 prominent biologists.

"The science simply doesn't support removal of protections for wolves," said Dr. Brad Bergstrom with the American Society of Mammalogists. "Wolves are altogether absent or barely beginning to recover in large swathes of the country that still contain excellent habitat."

Verde Independent (original)  Posted on March 27, 2013

The Mexican Gray Wolf no longer exists in Mexico, and there are only 58* remaining in the wild in the Southwestern U.S. and 300 in captivity.

These numbers make "El Lobo" the rarest type of wolf in the world and the most endangered land mammal in North America.

Emily Nelson, Program Director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, is the speaker for the fourth and final lecture in the 2013 Sedona Lecture Series on Monday, April 8, 7 p.m., at the United Methodist Church, 110 Indian Cliffs Road and SR 179 in Sedona.

The Lecture Series has been presented annually for 29 years by the Sedona Muses and the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA).

The Recovery Project is dedicated to bringing back wolves and restoring ecological health in the Grand Canyon region.

Nelson will provide information about the history and present status of Mexican wolves, their role in ecosystems of the Southwest, and current efforts to help them recover in the wild on the Colorado Plateau.

Widespread trapping and poisoning in the U.S. in the early to mid-1900s was responsible for their ongoing danger of extinction, and they were bred in captivity and reintroduced to the wild in Arizona beginning in 1998. The goal was to restore at least 100 wolves to the wild by 2006. Unfortunately, the present count is only 58.

Tickets are $6/MNA members, $7 non-members at Weber's IGA in VOC, Bashas' in Sedona, at the door the night of the lecture, or by calling Ruth Kane, 284-2875. Proceeds benefit the Museum of Northern Arizona.

*Note: The current population number is up to 75 with three breeding pairs of Mexican wolves in the wild as of the end of 2012.

Northern Arizona University, The Lumberjack student newspaper (original)  Posted on April 3, 2013 by Miranda Scott

It is dark and there are pretty pictures of wolves adorning tables lined up around the claustrophobic walls of the Orpheum Theater's interior. A film is starting, crackling as the video player comes to life. ... Posters are taped on the walls urging people to "Save the Wolves." The clock hits 7:30 p.m. and the first documentary starts, focusing on whales and saving the planet; the Wild and Scenic Film Festival has officially begun.

On March 29, a large crowd gathered at the Orpheum Theatre to take part in the film festival. A nationwide festival, the Wild and Scenic has been traveling from California to Nevada to Arizona for the better part of this year, according to the group's website, which receives over 110 film entries every year. The films focus on improving the conditions of the world we live in through powerful change enacted by adventurous individuals ready to work toward a better tomorrow. Many of the films take place in mountainous landscapes and are primarily interested in the effects human interference and climate change have on the animal and ecological life forces in nature.

"The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project hosts the Wild and Scenic Film Festival tour in Flagstaff each year to raise awareness for the Mexican gray wolf and as a fundraiser to help support our work on behalf of wolves. Our intention with hosting the film festival is to help people learn about the issues facing Mexican wolves, be motivated to care for them and strive to see them be recovered in the wild," said Emily Nelson, project director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project.

Defenders of Wildlife Blog Post (original) Posted on March 26, 2013 by Eva Sargent, Southwest Program Director for Defenders of Wildlife

This Friday will be the 15th anniversary of the day U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staffers braved a blizzard to release the first group of captive bred Mexican gray wolves – also called "lobos" – into the wild. The wolves had been waiting in pens in the Apache National Forest in Arizona, the first of their kind in the wilds of the Southwest in decades. Now, 15 years later, there are 75 wild Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico, and a handful in Mexico. That's something to celebrate – part miracle, part Endangered Species Act triumph. An animal that was completely extinct in the wild, with only seven "founder" wolves as breeding stock to save it, is back and howling and having pups and strengthening the natural systems that sustain everything, humans included.

If you live in the Southwest, we have opportunities to celebrate in Flagstaff and Pinetop, Arizona, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Of course, some people will prefer to sob: there are not enough lobos in the wild; they need to overcome genetic problems; and they are confined to one population in one area of the Southwest. The slow turn of the Mexican gray wolf as it tries to step back from edge of extinction is agonizing to watch. Will the rarest wolf in the world teeter and fall? As someone who lives lobo recovery and politics every day, I can't just sit around and sob. I need to act, and I need you with me.