In a historic first, over 200 of the rarest subspecies of gray wolves in North America are now roaming the Southwest.
Headed by several federal agencies, the annual Mexican gray wolf count is meant to track the progress of the Mexican wolf recovery program under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Now, with the results in, it’s looking great for the future of the wolf.
A minimum of 241 gray wolves have been counted in the wild in the past year alone. That’s a 23% increase from the previous count.
“We’re actually doing better than we expected,” said Brady McGee, the Mexican gray wolf recovery coordinator with Fish and Wildlife. He said this has been a milestone 25 years in the making.
While it’s still far from the desired 320 wolf goal needed for the species to be considered “self-sufficient,” officials are confident that the wolf could eventually be taken off the Endangered Species list.
If that does happen, management of the wolf would then be turned over to the states, meaning the lobos won’t necessarily have the same protections and greater weight could be given by officials to the concerns of ranchers.
But, until then?
“Wolves are going to impact the livestock industry. They are going to eat livestock,” McGee said.
While applauding the boost, environmentalists still want greater protections, more room to roam, and boosted genetic diversity for the wolves.
The Mexican gray wolf has been classified as “endangered” since 1976.