Urgent

You are their last hope

Save the Mexican Gray Wolf

In the coming weeks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will be making decisions that will dramatically impact the world’s most endangered gray wolf. Specifically, they’ll decide how many captive Mexican grays to release into the wild next spring.

Please, urge Secretary Jewell to have FWS redouble its efforts and release a substantial number of wolves in both Arizona and New Mexico next spring!

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Dear Secretary Jewell,

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As someone who cares deeply about wildlife, I am a concerned that the lobo, once a conservation success story, is again headed toward extinction in the wild, and I urge you to direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take immediate action to improve the lobos' chance to survive and recover.

The captive facilities that are the "ark" for Mexican gray wolves are meeting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on August 1st to plan who breeds with who and which pairs and pups will be ready for release into the wild next spring. These releases are critical for the survival and recovery of the endangered Mexican gray wolf, and they require a long lead time. Wolves may have to move between facilities to meet their mates, and the receiving facilities may have to create new spaces for them and their pups.

As you know, the 2015 end of year count in the U.S. found only 97 wild Mexican gray wolves, a decrease of 12% from last year. And the genetic situation of this population is even more dire than the numbers suggest. All of the Mexican wolves alive today are descended from just seven founders of a captive breeding program, and years of delaying needed releases of wolves from captivity have caused a genetic crisis - the wild lobos have lost much of the genetic diversity of those seven founding wolves. This genetic loss is causing the wolves to have smaller litters and lowering pup survival. Eventually, if not corrected, it will lead to extinction.

The captive wolves still have genes that are not represented in the wild wolves, so releases of pairs and their pups from captivity will improve the genetic health of the wild population. But this year's wolf releases were curtailed when the state of New Mexico went to court to block the releases. The Service needs to redouble its efforts and be ready next spring to release substantial numbers of wolves in both Arizona and New Mexico. That means planning in August for wolf dating and mating.

We appreciate, Madam Secretary, your efforts to safeguard all of our endangered species. We ask that you direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work with the captive facilities now to plan for plenty of wolf releases in the spring. The lobos' survival depends on it.

Thank you for your consideration.
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