BREAKING NEWS: New hope for rare wolf species! The government has agreed to create a scientifically-based recovery plan for Mexican gray wolves after a 40-year delay!
In a victory for wolves, today we reached a court settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that requires the agency to prepare a scientifically based, peer-reviewed recovery plan for the Mexican wolf.
The plan is essential—without it, the Fish and Wildlife Service has no blueprint to guide its efforts to ensure the wolves’ survival. The agency’s failure to prepare one until now is part of the reason wolves are still struggling to survive.
With only 97 of these wolves remaining in the wild at the end of 2015, the Mexican wolf is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, teetering on the brink of extinction.
Forty years ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service first listed this wolf as endangered, but since then has put politics before science and never finalized a recovery plan to ensure the species’ survival in the wild. Today, these wolves are dangerously close to extinction.
But thanks to the courts and your consistent pressure, the agency is finally required to meet its legal obligation of completing a legally-sufficient recovery plan, with the ultimate goal of a healthy, sustainable population of Mexican gray wolves in the wild.
Today’s settlement is a major step forward, but the battle is far from over. We need the Fish and Wildlife Service to act now in the best interest of these wolves. And with you by our side, we’ll make sure it does so.
We’ll fight every step of the way to ensure that federal officials develop a legitimate, science-based recovery plan for the Mexican wolf rather than yield to political pressure.
As the lead attorney on this settlement, I want to thank you again for standing with us as we fight for wolves and the wild. Their very survival is at stake!
Mexican Gray Wolf MilestoneThursday marked 40 years since the Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, was first listed under the Endangered Species Act. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to complete a full recovery plan, with the ultimate goal of a healthy, sustainable Mexican gray wolf population in the wild. And while this is a step in the right direction for lobo recovery, there are still many to go. The wild population is currently facing a genetic diversity crisis because not enough wolves are being released from a captive breeding program into the wild, leading to smaller litters and lower pup survival – a recipe for extinction. Our experts continue to work hard day in and day out to recover the lobo, and in this milestone year, we need your help. Ask Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to release more Mexican gray wolves into the wild today!
Disturbing news out of New Mexico: Not only is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working to trap Guardian, the proud leader of the Luna wolf pack, but the state of New Mexico is going to court to stop any new releases of Mexican gray wolves into the wild. If they win, it could spell the end for lobos in the Southwest.
With only 97 left in the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico, lobos are among the most endangered animals in the world. Worse still, their recovery has been derailed by illegal killing, political pandering, government mishandling and a debilitating loss of genetic diversity. Local wolf-haters are even trying to stop captive-breeding efforts from taking place on private property -- if they succeed, the lobo won't be long for this world.
The Center for Biological Diversity has spent decades on the front lines fighting for these endangered wolves. We're not about to walk away -- but we need your help not only to keep the feds from trapping Guardian, but to secure a permanent home for the Mexican gray wolf. Please give to the Center's Wildlife and Wildlands Defense Fund, and a champion for wolves will match your contribution dollar-for-dollar. We'll use your doubled contribution to protect Guardian and wolves just like him.
We face powerful enemies in this fight. Right-wing politicians, emboldened by anti-wolf hysteria and funded by special interests who want to seize the wolves' protected habitat, are organizing to destroy wolf recovery. They want wolves out of the way as part of their agenda to gut the Endangered Species Act and end federal management of public lands like Guardian's home in the Gila National Forest.
Wolves need you on their side, and the Center needs your help to continue our fight for them on the ground. Please make a contribution with a one-for-one matched gift to the Wildlife and Wildlands Defense Fund. I've lived in the Southwest and fought for the lobo for 25 years. One of the most moving experiences you can have is to hear the howl of a wolf echoing through the arroyos and canyons. But one howl I never want to hear is that of Guardian's partner in the Luna pack, raising her voice in desperate mourning for her missing mate. Help Us Protect Guardian and Other Wolves With a Matching Gift
Help us secure a safe future for these amazing wolves. Please give to the Wildlife and Wildlands Defense Fund today.
It was 40 years ago – April 28th, 1976 – that Mexican gray wolves were first listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA may be the strongest environmental law in the world, helping to prevent the extinction of the world’s most treasured wildlife. And it works. A full 99 percent of species listed under the ESA remain with us today. But as the story of the Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, shows us, the ESA is only as strong as the will of those who uphold it. Today, despite being protected under the ESA for 40 years, the Mexican gray wolf is still the most endangered gray wolf in the world. What went wrong?
By the time that lobos were listed under the ESA, they were extinct in the wilds of the United States and extremely rare in Mexico. The U.S. and Mexico worked together to start a captive breeding program to keep the subspecies alive long enough to reintroduce wolves into the wild. Every Mexican gray wolf alive today is descended from the seven “founder” wolves in that program. This extreme measure was the last-ditch effort to stave off extinction after humans had eradicated the wolves from the landscape. But since then, humans’ efforts to right this wrong have fallen tragically short.
Mexican gray wolf, © Wolf Conservation Center The first captive bred lobos were released into the wild in 1998, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has never released enough wolves to preserve the genetic heritage of the seven founding wolves. Holding wolves back triggered a continuing loss of genetic diversity in the wild lobo population. The result of not allowing more wolves to breed in the wild is clear – the wolves are struggling. They are having smaller litters, fewer of their pups are surviving to adulthood, and the population is less able to adapt over time to changing conditions. Taken together, these threats are a recipe for extinction.
There are about 240 Mexican gray wolves still in captivity, and they have genes that are not represented in the wild population. With only 97 wild wolves in the United States and fewer than 25 in Mexico, getting more captive wolves and their genes into the wild is critical to saving the lobo. So why have only four new lobos been released from captivity during the entire Obama administration?
Political Pressure
Recovery of the lobo is widely supported in the Southwest – the wolves enjoy polling numbers that any politician would envy. But the game and fish commissions and governors are not listening, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been under immense political pressure from Arizona and New Mexico in particular to keep the population small. In 2010 the Arizona Game and Fish Commission asked Congress to remove all federal protections for the lobo, even though there were only 50 of them in the wild. In 2015, the Arizona commission voted unanimously to oppose all releases of adult wolves from captivity, even though scientists confirm that the subspecies cannot recover without more wolves on the ground to increase their gene pool. Similarly, New Mexico’s game commission recently tried to block all future lobo releases in the state. Arizona also lobbied the Service to keep wolves out of the habitats needed for recovery, and lobbied for a population cap of 200-300 wolves in both states. Meeting behind closed doors with state officials, the Service eventually agreed that if the population in the two states ever tops 325 wolves, the agency could begin to kill them. Now, Utah and Colorado have joined in the anti-wolf fervor – sending letters to Interior Secretary Jewell and passing resolutions opposing Mexican gray wolf recovery in their states.
Make Your Voices Heard!
This year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to release only one pair of wolves, and will attempt to “cross foster” up to six captive pups into wild dens – an experimental technique that offers some promise but is unlikely to solve the genetic crisis. It’s too little, too late. The best way to prevent this extinction is to release more of the captive wolves into the wild, as fast as possible.
The Service has heard enough from the anti-wolf crowd – it’s time they heard from you. TTell Secretary Jewell, who oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that you want more Mexican gray wolves released, both this year and next. We want the Service to stop giving in to political pressure, stop making back room deals, and put a scientific recovery plan for lobos into action. Most importantly, we want more Mexican gray wolves released into the wild now, before it’s too late. It’s time for more wolves, less politics.
Protect Critically Endangered Himalayan Wolf.
In a victory for wolves, today we reached a court settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that requires the agency to prepare a scientifically based, peer-reviewed recovery plan for the Mexican wolf.
The plan is essential—without it, the Fish and Wildlife Service has no blueprint to guide its efforts to ensure the wolves’ survival. The agency’s failure to prepare one until now is part of the reason wolves are still struggling to survive.
With only 97 of these wolves remaining in the wild at the end of 2015, the Mexican wolf is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, teetering on the brink of extinction.
Forty years ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service first listed this wolf as endangered, but since then has put politics before science and never finalized a recovery plan to ensure the species’ survival in the wild. Today, these wolves are dangerously close to extinction.
But thanks to the courts and your consistent pressure, the agency is finally required to meet its legal obligation of completing a legally-sufficient recovery plan, with the ultimate goal of a healthy, sustainable population of Mexican gray wolves in the wild.
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We’ll fight every step of the way to ensure that federal officials develop a legitimate, science-based recovery plan for the Mexican wolf rather than yield to political pressure.
As the lead attorney on this settlement, I want to thank you again for standing with us as we fight for wolves and the wild. Their very survival is at stake!
Mexican Gray Wolf MilestoneThursday marked 40 years since the Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, was first listed under the Endangered Species Act. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to complete a full recovery plan, with the ultimate goal of a healthy, sustainable Mexican gray wolf population in the wild. And while this is a step in the right direction for lobo recovery, there are still many to go. The wild population is currently facing a genetic diversity crisis because not enough wolves are being released from a captive breeding program into the wild, leading to smaller litters and lower pup survival – a recipe for extinction. Our experts continue to work hard day in and day out to recover the lobo, and in this milestone year, we need your help. Ask Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to release more Mexican gray wolves into the wild today!
Disturbing news out of New Mexico: Not only is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working to trap Guardian, the proud leader of the Luna wolf pack, but the state of New Mexico is going to court to stop any new releases of Mexican gray wolves into the wild. If they win, it could spell the end for lobos in the Southwest.
With only 97 left in the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico, lobos are among the most endangered animals in the world. Worse still, their recovery has been derailed by illegal killing, political pandering, government mishandling and a debilitating loss of genetic diversity. Local wolf-haters are even trying to stop captive-breeding efforts from taking place on private property -- if they succeed, the lobo won't be long for this world.
The Center for Biological Diversity has spent decades on the front lines fighting for these endangered wolves. We're not about to walk away -- but we need your help not only to keep the feds from trapping Guardian, but to secure a permanent home for the Mexican gray wolf. Please give to the Center's Wildlife and Wildlands Defense Fund, and a champion for wolves will match your contribution dollar-for-dollar. We'll use your doubled contribution to protect Guardian and wolves just like him.
We face powerful enemies in this fight. Right-wing politicians, emboldened by anti-wolf hysteria and funded by special interests who want to seize the wolves' protected habitat, are organizing to destroy wolf recovery. They want wolves out of the way as part of their agenda to gut the Endangered Species Act and end federal management of public lands like Guardian's home in the Gila National Forest.
Help us secure a safe future for these amazing wolves. Please give to the Wildlife and Wildlands Defense Fund today.
By the time that lobos were listed under the ESA, they were extinct in the wilds of the United States and extremely rare in Mexico. The U.S. and Mexico worked together to start a captive breeding program to keep the subspecies alive long enough to reintroduce wolves into the wild. Every Mexican gray wolf alive today is descended from the seven “founder” wolves in that program. This extreme measure was the last-ditch effort to stave off extinction after humans had eradicated the wolves from the landscape. But since then, humans’ efforts to right this wrong have fallen tragically short.
Mexican gray wolf, © Wolf Conservation Center The first captive bred lobos were released into the wild in 1998, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has never released enough wolves to preserve the genetic heritage of the seven founding wolves. Holding wolves back triggered a continuing loss of genetic diversity in the wild lobo population. The result of not allowing more wolves to breed in the wild is clear – the wolves are struggling. They are having smaller litters, fewer of their pups are surviving to adulthood, and the population is less able to adapt over time to changing conditions. Taken together, these threats are a recipe for extinction.
There are about 240 Mexican gray wolves still in captivity, and they have genes that are not represented in the wild population. With only 97 wild wolves in the United States and fewer than 25 in Mexico, getting more captive wolves and their genes into the wild is critical to saving the lobo. So why have only four new lobos been released from captivity during the entire Obama administration?
Political Pressure
Recovery of the lobo is widely supported in the Southwest – the wolves enjoy polling numbers that any politician would envy. But the game and fish commissions and governors are not listening, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been under immense political pressure from Arizona and New Mexico in particular to keep the population small. In 2010 the Arizona Game and Fish Commission asked Congress to remove all federal protections for the lobo, even though there were only 50 of them in the wild. In 2015, the Arizona commission voted unanimously to oppose all releases of adult wolves from captivity, even though scientists confirm that the subspecies cannot recover without more wolves on the ground to increase their gene pool. Similarly, New Mexico’s game commission recently tried to block all future lobo releases in the state. Arizona also lobbied the Service to keep wolves out of the habitats needed for recovery, and lobbied for a population cap of 200-300 wolves in both states. Meeting behind closed doors with state officials, the Service eventually agreed that if the population in the two states ever tops 325 wolves, the agency could begin to kill them. Now, Utah and Colorado have joined in the anti-wolf fervor – sending letters to Interior Secretary Jewell and passing resolutions opposing Mexican gray wolf recovery in their states.
PREVENT THIS WOLF EXTINCTION
It's not too late. But it will be, unless action is taken right away. Ask Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to release more captive lobos into the wild so these iconic predators have a fighting chance to survive.
Take Action »
This year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to release only one pair of wolves, and will attempt to “cross foster” up to six captive pups into wild dens – an experimental technique that offers some promise but is unlikely to solve the genetic crisis. It’s too little, too late. The best way to prevent this extinction is to release more of the captive wolves into the wild, as fast as possible.
The Service has heard enough from the anti-wolf crowd – it’s time they heard from you. TTell Secretary Jewell, who oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that you want more Mexican gray wolves released, both this year and next. We want the Service to stop giving in to political pressure, stop making back room deals, and put a scientific recovery plan for lobos into action. Most importantly, we want more Mexican gray wolves released into the wild now, before it’s too late. It’s time for more wolves, less politics.
Protect Critically Endangered Himalayan Wolf.
Target: Hon. Agni Prasad Sapkota, Nepal’s Minister of Forest and Soil Conservation
Goal: Increase conservation efforts to protect the Himalayan wolf from going extinct.
The Himalayan wolf is critically endangered and will soon face extinction if greater conservation efforts are not made to protect this rare species. The Himalayan wolf, also known as the “woolly wolf” for its distinctively woolly fur, comes from one of the most ancient wolf lineages and is much smaller and visibly unique from its European cousin. The species can only be found in the Trans-Himalayan region, and it is estimated that the population is less than 350 animals. While the Himalayan wolf is legally protected in India, it receives no protection in Tibet despite being listed as critically endangered on the National Red list.
The biggest threat to the Himalayan wolf is human interference. As part of a study recently published in the journal ZooKeys, scientists interviewed herders, livestock owners, nomads and village elite in an effort to understand the status of the human-wolf conflict in Nepal. The vulnerable population is threatened by local livestock owners who view Himalayan wolves as a danger to their livelihood. As a result, many of the wolves are being killed off to discourage them from hunting livestock. The study acknowledges this human-wildlife conflict, and stresses that “a special action plan needs to be formulated that develops mechanisms to minimize conflict, and strategies for motivating local communities towards wolf conservation.”
The Himalayan wolf is already at risk from global warming and climate change, and human disruption must be minimized to protect this endangered species from extinction. Sign the petition below to urge Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to increase protections for the Himalayan wolf and keep this critically threatened species from dying out.
Dear Hon. Minister Sapkota,
The Himalayan wolf is listed as critically endangered on the National Red List and will soon face extinction if greater conservation efforts are not made to protect this vulnerable species from human interference. The species is native to the Trans-Himalayan region and its population is estimated to be fewer than 350 animals.
According to a study recently published in the journal ZooKeys, Himalayan wolves are in serious danger of being killed off by local livestock owners who view the wolves as a threat to their livelihood. The scientists stress that this human-wildlife conflict is driving Himalayan wolves toward extinction, and call for “a special action plan … that develops mechanisms to minimize conflict.” The species is already threatened by global warming and climate change, so the added danger of human interference must be reduced.
I am urging you to increase protections for the Himalayan wolf. Please take action to encourage local communities to work toward wolf conservation and protect this critically endangered species from extinction.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: shankar s.
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