Lobos Must Be Able to Wander North in Arizona, New Mexico
Like many young people, Mexican gray wolves may choose to stay with their natal pack for life or pave their own path. Male and female wolves alike may venture out in the search for new territory, a mate and, ultimately to form a pack of their own. This natural phenomenon is called dispersal.
Why Disperse?
For Mexican gray wolves to have a robust population that survives into the future, diverse genetics must exchange between packs.
A wolf will develop the strength and skill to survive when it is between one and two years old. At that age, instinctually, Canis lupus baileyi, like its parent gray wolf species, will seek out new, unoccupied habitat areas that will provide the best opportunity for food, water and shelter where they can den under.
When a young lobo, or Mexican gray wolf, establishes a new pack, genetics are mixed which benefits the whole population. Diverse genes in the wild are critical to prevent disease and allow wolves to adapt to environmental threats, including habitat loss. Without dispersal, the already isolated Mexican gray wolf population will become even more closely related than they are now, weakening the population and increasing its risk of extinction.
But the journey is dangerous. Alone, young wolves navigate canyons, dense forests and unforgiving mountain ranges of the American Southwest. Though the young wolves are uniquely adapted to these arid landscapes, they will still face starvation, competition from other predators, and deadly encounters with people and development. (For example, Taylor, a male Mexican gray wolf who repeatedly traveled more than 150 miles from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona to Mount Taylor in New Mexico, and was fatally hit alongside Interstate 40.)
There was a time when the Mexican gray wolf could roam freely for thousands of miles from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains through the American Southwest and into central Mexico.
But Mexican gray wolves were trapped and hunted to near extinction, earning their spot on the Endangered Species list in 1978. It wasn’t until 20 years after the last remaining wild lobos were captured for recovery that the first captive-bred packs were released into the Blue Range Recovery Area – which would evolve into the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area.
Today, though Mexican gray wolves are endangered, they are not fully protected under the Endangered Species Act. Under section 10(j), lobos are a “nonessential, experimental population” with life-saving protections only extending as far as the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area – significantly limiting the lobos’ ability to disperse and thrive.
Stuck in the Middle
Take Asha, F2754, who traveled hundreds of miles exploring new territory in 2025. After being captured for the second time heading north of I-40, Asha was brought to the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and placed into a captive breeding program. The female wolf and her pups were later released as the Quartz Pack, sparking joy in the public and new genes in the lobo pool.
The Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area is split into three management zones spanning from the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and Mexico into the Gila, Zuni and San Francisco mountain ranges but no further north than Interstate 40. Because of their 10(j) status, Mexican gray wolves outside the Experimental Population Area – an artificial border that determines their fate – may be lethally removed from the wild. And yet, year after year, lobos who are dispersing have shown there’s suitable habitat north of the area.
Mexican gray wolves have been dispersing since reintroduction (the earliest reports are of a female from the Campbell Blue pack in 2000 that made it just north of I-40 into Flagstaff, Arizona), though their movement hasn’t always been closely tracked. Now, the public is invested.
Road to Recovery Outside I-40
Taylor was the 11th collared wolf detected north of I-40 – the ninth to do so in the past decade. He was also the 11th wolf the public has rallied behind since detections have become more popular. There are reports of wolves north of I-40 each year from 2016 to 2018 with at least one making it to Grand Canyon National Park. Wolves were again detected north in 2021 (Anubis), 2022 (Stella), 2023 (Asha), 2024 (Hope) and two in 2025 (Ella and Taylor).
These tales of movement north is a sign that recovery is working. And yet loud, anti-wolf interests continue to threaten the hard work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Arizona Game and Fish Department, New Mexico Department of Wildlife, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, local ranchers and many other partners. For decades, wildlife managers have performed grueling duties with inadequate funding since the last Mexican gray wolf was removed from the wild and entered a captive breeding program.
Now, Arizona lawmakers are proposing bills that would be disastrous to the survival of the Mexican gray wolf and undermine its own historical efforts and House Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) is proposing to use his political power to remove the lobo from the ESA all together.
For recovery to succeed, lobos must be allowed to run naturally across the landscapes where they belong. They need connected habitats and stronger protections that reflect the species’ true endangered status.
Every young wolf who leaves its pack has the potential to start a new family, creating a stronger future for the animal.
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