US wildlife managers have no immediate plans to capture wandering Mexican gray wolf

It’s been a long journey for one lone Mexican gray wolf — from the forests of southeastern Arizona, across the dusty high desert of central New Mexico to the edge of what is known as the Yellowstone of the Southwest.

Her paws have seen hundreds of miles now over the last five months.

Having reached Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico, she has wandered far beyond the boundaries established along the Arizona-New Mexico border for managing the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. The recovery area — spanning tens of thousands of square miles — is home to more than 240 of the endangered predators.

Known to biologists by her formal name of F2754, the wolf is outfitted with a GPS collar. Data collected since her release in June in the Apache National Forest in Arizona shows she has traversed more than 650 miles (1,046 kilometers).

Environmentalists have been pushing federal managers to let the wolf be, suggesting that she’s heading north toward Colorado in search of a mate. They also pointed out that previous efforts to relocate her were unsuccessful following her first attempt to head northward last winter...more