Wildlife Weekly Wrap-Up

Written by Melanie Gade with contributions from Haley McKey

More Mexican Gray Wolves to Be Released in the Wild! At last count, there were approximately 110 Mexican gray wolves living in the wild in the southwest. To increase the population’s genetic diversity and ensure this species’ continued recovery, more wolves need to be released. So, we were highly disappointed earlier this fall when the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission voted unanimously not to allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to release captive-bred lobos in the wolves’ designated recovery area in New Mexico. Tens of thousands of you joined us in encouraging the Service to continue with its plans to release more wolves, since that is an essential component to helping the species recover. And it looks like the Service heard you! This week the Service announced it will use its authority under the Endangered Species Act to bypass the Commission’s decision and release more wolves anyway! The word is that the Service will release about 10 Mexican gray wolves into the wilds of southwestern New Mexico. This is wonderful news for this population of highly imperiled lobos and certainly a victory worth celebrating! A big thank you to everyone who spoke up for Mexican gray wolves and encouraged the Service to do the right thing.

New Report Shows Extent of Wildlife Trafficking from Latin America to the US: The United States is one of the world’s largest consumers of illegal wildlife and wildlife products, with a domestic illegal market value estimated at $2 billion. While demand is shockingly high in this country for trafficked goods, our new exhaustive report identifies the biggest challenges: a lack of funding and capacity for domestic wildlife law enforcement at our borders and ports of entry. The report, “Combating Wildlife Trafficking from Latin America to the United States,” focuses on an often-overlooked region, Latin America, which for purposes of this report includes Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. Our experts analyzed a full decade’s worth of data to identify common patterns, routes, products and ports of entry, all to help better identify what needs to be done to confront this threat to wildlife within and outside our borders.

Frogs – The New Canary in the Coal Mine: A new study out of Australia examined recent extinctions of two animal groups – reptiles and amphibians – finding that nearly 200 species of frogs are now extinct and many others are headed for the same fate. If this rate of species loss continues, we could witness a mass extinction. The paper says that the extinction rate for reptiles and amphibians is roughly 10,000 times larger than the rate for all other spices. Why? A variety of factors, including habitat destruction, invasive species, fungus and climate change, could contribute. More research is certainly needed, but it’s clear that these populations are highly vulnerable to our changing environment, and are an ominous “canary in the coal mine” to what may lie ahead.

Endangered California Condor Killed near Grand Canyon: One of the approximately 70 California condors surviving in the Arizona-Utah region was killed in northern Arizona last week. The person who shot the imperiled bird reported the incident. While today the Condors are doing better, any loss to this imperiled species is tragic. As of October 2014, there were approximately 425 California condors in the world, about 219 of which are free-flying in California, Arizona and Baja California, Mexico. Although you may think a species with a population of under 500 isn’t doing so well, 30 years ago, the condor was in a much graver condition. The bird’s population steadily declined during the 20th century until there were only 22 known to exist in the world. Thanks to the condor’s listing under the Endangered Species Act in the 1980s these increasingly rare birds were taken into captive breeding facilities to be reintroduced later. While today the birds today are making a comeback, one of the most persistent threats to Condors continued recovery is lead poisoning. Condors are scavengers and therefore highly susceptible to poisoning from lead ammunition. Defenders continues to advocate for an end to toxic lead ammunition for hunting on federal lands, particularly on national wildlife refuges.

China’s One Year Ban on Ivory: China has put a one-year ban on the import of African trophy ivory, following a joint announcement by the United States and China in September vowing to enact bans on ivory imports and exports. Chinese demand for carved ivory and ivory jewelry has fueled increased poaching in Africa. Though a one-year ban is clearly just a start, it’s an important step forward in trying to decrease demand for ivory products in a country that is among the highest consumers in the world.
Washington’s Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Just Got a lot Bigger: Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest has acquired 96 acres of land deep within the Glacier Peak Wilderness, which secures important habitat for grizzly bear recovery and other wildlife in the area. It was paid for by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), wisely established in 1965, which funds the preservation of wildlife habitat and historic sites in the United States from off-shore oil and gas leasing royalties. This is happy news for wildlife, but sadly Congress allowed funding for the LWCF to lapse on September 30th, and the future for land protection in the United States has been thrown into uncertainty.

The Latest on Oregon’s Wolves: The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission last week announced they will wait until November to evaluate what level of state protection is warranted as wolves continue to recover in Oregon. While we respect the commission’s need to evaluate the status of wolves in the state, we have urged it to avoid removing protections now that would stop or slow wolf recovery in western Oregon. If the commission makes any changes at all, we have urged them to consider only downlisting the species from endangered to threatened. This would enable wolves to continue to receive the vital state protections they need, while acknowledging that wolf numbers in eastern Oregon have improved through a model of cooperation, conservation, and coexistence. If you are an Oregon resident and wish to comment, please send an email before November 9, 2015 to odfw.commission@state.or.us.