Asha, a well-known Mexican gray wolf named after schoolchildren, has now been returned to the wild in Arizona after its controversial capture back in January.
The release has reignited debates among environmentalists, conservationists, and geneticists about where these wolves are allowed to roam.
Asha was captured shortly after she wandered outside of official recovery boundaries set by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service north of Interstate 40 in Taos.
The wolf recovery zone in Eastern Arizona and Southern New Mexico totals 32,000 square miles. But conservationists have long claimed that could be easily doubled to include areas like the Grand Canyon and Southern Rockies to boost theincreasing numbersof wolves even more.
Emily Renn is the executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project.
“That needs to be changed,” Renn said. “That’s a policy that’s been in place for a long time that doesn’t make any biological sense.”
Renn said the largest elk herds in North America are found those areas and the effects of climate change in the southwest could make the area north of I-40 increasingly important for recovery.
There are also concerns about lobo genetics.
Sally Paez is a staff attorney with New Mexico Wild. While she’s ecstatic for Asha’s release, she said these policies are a reminder of why these wolves need more room to roam to increase genetic diversity with other species to prepare them for future environmental changes and interbreeding.
“We have straight up lost some of the DNA, the genetic markers that create what makes a Mexican gray wolf, Paez said. "They’re gone. They’re just gone.”
Before her release, Asha was held at a facility in Socorro and paired with a male Mexican wolf, where she failed to bear any pups.
Multiple advocacy groups are currently fighting these boundaries in court.
