Range For Mexican Gray Wolves Increases Tenfold

The federal government this week finalized a plan to increase the range of endangered Mexican gray wolves tenfold, a shift that could bring the beleaguered predators to Rim Country. The rule change won praise from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, but spurred criticism by environmentalists, hunters and ranchers. Environmentalists objected to a plan to cap the number of wolves at 325 and recapture and remove wolves that wander into areas north of Interstate 40, like the Grand Canyon. Some hunters and ranchers objected to any expansion of the range, given the wolves’ reliance on elk for most of their food in addition to sometimes killing cattle. The federal government has a program to compensate ranchers for cattle killed by the wolves, but many ranchers say the program doesn’t cover their losses. The new rules for the 83 Mexican gray wolves now living in portions of far eastern Arizona and western New Mexico will allow for the introduction of new wolf packs in a vast sprawl of central Arizona, which includes all of Rim Country. The introductions locally would most likely occur in remote, unpopulated areas like the Hellsgate Wilderness. The rules call for the eventual establishment of up to 325 wolves roaming wild in that Arizona and New Mexico. If the wolf populations grow above that number, biologists may trap and move them — most likely down into Mexico, which is just beginning reintroduction efforts of its own, with a single breeding pair and several pups. The rule change will list the Mexican gray wolves as an endangered subspecies, but continue its listing as an “experimental, non-essential” population. The “nonessential” designation gives wildlife managers more flexibility to kill or remove wolves that pose a problem by threatening people, pets, cattle or even the stability of local elk populations...more