FWS Orders Four Lobos Killed During Lobo Week

Following on the heels of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) recent news of a record annual increase in the wild population of endangered Mexican gray wolves, the agency issued kill orders which created a deadly month in lobo management. In March, four wolves were killed for conflicts that could have been prevented with better livestock management.

Wolf advocates had been in the midst of celebrating Lobo Week, which falls each year on the anniversary of the first release of wild wolves in 1998. At the very same time of this celebration, agency wildlife managers authorized four wolves be lethally removed. 

“Each Mexican gray wolf is essential to the future survival of the species and this past month’s killings are particularly distressing considering the genetic crisis the wild population faces,” said Bryan Bird, Southwest program director for Defenders of Wildlife. “While these losses are certainly devastating, they further highlight the need for public land managers to require conflict reduction activities by livestock permittees.”

For too long the U.S. Forest Service with authority over the public lands where most wolves are currently active, has resisted providing guidelines to ranchers raising livestock in the Mexican gray wolf recovery area to reduce conflicts. One of the single most effective actions that could speed up recovery is for the Forest Service to require its livestock permittees undertake conflict avoidance measures on their leases.  

Mexican gray wolves have been surviving on these public lands grazing allotments for the past 20 years.  Despite repeated wolf-livestock interactions in these specific areas, the Forest Service still has not provided guidelines in its “annual operating instructions” to grazing permittees regarding best management practices to reduce conflicts with wolves. The agency appears poised to continue another 20 years without providing such guidance, by refusing to include appropriate standards and guidelines in its Forest Plan currently under revision.  

The Forest Service has an obligation under the Endangered Species Act to contribute to the recovery of endangered species and yet, it refuses to manage permitted uses like livestock grazing accordingly. In the extreme situation where livestock losses cannot be contained in areas that are important to wolf recovery (e.g., repeated den and rendezvous sites), and wolves are repeatedly removed, leases should be retired, and the areas closed to livestock grazing for the benefit of wildlife and habitat and the public who enjoys them.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department and FWS release reports with updates and press releases on the recovery program’s efforts, however, the “removal orders” and agency-sponsored killings of wolves are often withheld from the public until the lethal removals are completed or the order has expired. Wolf advocates don’t often learn about the loss of the wolves until it’s too late to have any input on management decisions.

Here’s what we know about the four killed wolves and the packs that are now adjusting to the sudden loss:

• Wolf m1862 was lethally removed, though has never been previously mentioned in the monthly reports. 
• Wolves m1839 and f1840 were both part of the Mangas Pack and had been recently collared in October 2019 so they could be monitored. The Mangas Pack is a pack of least eight wolves and includes at least one uncollared yearling. This pack has now been considerably impacted by interruptions and becomes far more vulnerable as it adjusts pack structure.
• FWS also took aim at AM1398, the alpha male of the Prieto Pack. This wolf was born in 2014 into the Luna Pack and named by a young wolf advocate in 2015. He had been leading the pack with a nonfunctioning collar since at least summer of 2019. Wolf advocates have been tracking the Prieto Pack for the past year, as the pack had been involved in depredations on the Rainy Mesa public lands allotment. This allotment leases land to cattle producers in prime wolf habitat and has been an inhibitor to lobo recovery. The Prieto Pack has four known, collaRed Wolves and potentially more uncollared. In November 2019, two wolves from Prieto were caught in foothold traps by a private individual. One was immediately processed, collared, and removed from the wild for care by wildlife managers. The other escaped into a winter storm with a trap still attached to its foot. The trap is no longer attached, and the wolf has been seen still traveling with the pack. This Prieto Pack has also been impacted by such interruptions and been made vulnerable as it establishes new structure.

These incidents all fall in Catron County, New Mexico – a hotbed of wolf-livestock conflict. While ranchers throughout New Mexico and Arizona continue to adapt to these critically important natural predators, Defenders urges the state of New Mexico to follow through on their recent decision to rejoin the effort to recover Mexican gray wolves by allowing the release from captivity of well-bonded, adult pairs and expand the areas where reintroduced animals can roam north of Interstate 40.