Three-legged Mexican gray wolf killed

A three-legged Mexican gray wolf – considered an endangered species since 1976 – was killed in Arizona last week, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service memo. The male wolf, which had previously suffered an emergency leg amputation in November after being caught in a trap, was killed by a federal gunman after preying on livestock. It is the 21st Mexican gray wolf to be shot by the government since reintroduction efforts in Arizona and New Mexico began in 1998 and the fifth to be shot this year, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group. “This wolf father’s horribly unfair fate offers us a peek at the broader tragedy of heavy-handed wolf management,” said Michael Robinson, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “After his injury, he had to hunt alone on three legs, so he turned to livestock. He was too smart to be caught in a trap again, but he couldn’t outrun his radio collar and an aerial sniper.” In March, a male wolf, one of his pups and two other pups were shot in New Mexico. Advocates won a 2018 lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, arguing its 2015 management policy for the endangered animal worsened inbreeding in the population. The U.S. District Court of Tucson found the federal agency failed to use the best available science to manage the wolf population. The agency has until May 2021 to revise its wolf management rule...MORE