Letter from 31 conservation groups urges USFWS to heed science, save species

July 14, 2017

A single female from Mexico, “Sonora” the Mexican wolf holds the key to her species’ survival in her genes. But after crossing the border into Arizona, she was imprisoned—a victim of political pettiness. Her case isn’t unique: Sonora is one of many lobos the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service holds in perpetual captivity.

Today, 31 conservation and wolf protection organizations in the Southwest and nationwide sent a letter urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to release those endangered lobos into the wild, warding off the specter of extinction for this rare wolf subspecies.

Once down to just seven animals left in the wild, the population of Mexican gray wolves, otherwise known as “lobos,” rebounded after the passage of the Endangered Species Act ushered in a captive breeding program. Now 113 wild lobos roam Arizona and New Mexico—but their days may be numbered.

The wild lobos are too genetically similar, which could result in their destruction if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not release captive wolves to diversify the gene pool. Though scientists advocate wolf releases, the game departments of Arizona and New Mexico (states where the releases would take place) are controlled by livestock and hunting-outfitting industry interests, and have therefore opposed them. USFWS has been reluctant to go against state opposition.

Wolves belong in the wild. We’re calling on the Service to put science and the law first, and release these wolves to their native southwestern homelands now.

Read the press release.

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