Wolf Haven & Mexican Wolf Recovery
Wolf Haven International is proud to be an important partner in the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. Wolf Haven is one of only three US pre-release breeding facilities for the program where wolves are placed for breeding and aversive conditioning prior to release in the wild. Since the first year of releases, in 1998, two packs of Mexican gray wolves (The original Hawk's Nest Pack and the Cienega Pack) have gone from Wolf Haven International to Arizona's Apache National Forest. Both groups of wolves have fared extremely well in the wild, making substantial contributions to Mexican Wolf Recovery.
Lorenzo is a Mexican gray wolf who resides at Wolf Haven. Photo by Julie Lawrence.
2008 Updates
2008 marks the ten year anniversary of the original release of Mexican wolves into the Apache-Sitgreves National Forest of Arizona. After 20 years of captive breeding, bureaucratic wrangling, government process and law suits, March 28, 1998 was a happy outcome for many conservationists and southwest locals. Of course it wasn't an ending but a beginning - the next phase - of a long road to recovery for this distinct sub-species of one of our nation's most notorious carnivores.
One thing that was reiterated in 2008 was the fact that the reintroduced population of Mexican wolves was not growing as quickly as hoped. The count at the beginning of 2008 showed that the population was down from the previous year, for the first time since reintroduction. The breeding pair numbers were significantly reduced from 7 in 2006 to 4 in 2007.
The blame for this reduction was attributed to a variety of causes. Some of the reductions could be ascribed to issues with the rules of reintroduction which were established before the first releases occurred. The regulations that wolves are not allowed outside the boundary of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area (BRWRA) and that wolves could not be initially introduced from captivity into the New Mexican (and largest) portion of the BRWRA were identified as obstructions to success of the program shortly following reintroduction. There has been broad consensus among most concerned parties that there need to be changes. During 2008, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began the lengthy process of changing the rules that govern the reintroduction, which will address the boundary rule and the initial release rule, among others.
Another issue that was hotly criticized as a main cause of population reduction was the controversial "Standard Operating Procedure" (SOP) adopted in 2005 by the managing entity of the reintroduction program, the Adaptive Management Oversight Committee (AMOC), known as SOP 13. This SOP demanded that wolves confirmed to have killed livestock three times in a 365-day period needed to be removed from the wild population. Though offending wolves would preferably be trapped, they could also be removed by lethal means if necessary. During 2006 and 2007, 35 wolves were removed for livestock depredation under the auspices of SOP 13, the same number that had been removed in the previous 8 years. Given the genetic rarity of Mexican wolves, such dramatic removal procedures were strongly objected to by many conservation organizations, including Wolf Haven. AMOC, in their annual report covering 2007, said that aggressive management for depredations, in addition to losses from other causes, was impacting growth of the population.
Two law suits were filed in 2008 that challenged SOP 13 as well as other aspects of the reintroduction project. In addition to questioning the contribution of SOP 13 to the conservation of the Mexican wolves, a group of conservation organizations led by Defenders of Wildlife also challenges the creation of AMOC as the managing entity of the reintroduction project when, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), it is the responsibility of USFWS to conduct recovery. The other law suit, while again questioning SOP 13, also alleges that the U.S. Forest Service is not in compliance with the ESA. The Forest Service manages almost all of the land the Mexican wolves currently occupy. While USFWS is ultimately responsible for endangered species recovery, all federal agencies have a responsibility to manage their affairs to forward the conservation of listed species. Many feel that the regional Forest Service has not done enough to ensure the conservation of Mexican wolves.
One item that all parties agree on is the need for a new recovery plan. The original Mexican wolf recovery plan was written in 1982. Wolf recovery was in its infancy and none of the reintroduction projects in the U.S. had wolves on the ground. Recovery plans written in this era were based on ancient history and the best guesses and studies of the day. Some assumptions incorporated into recovery plans turned out to be different from how things happened once wolves were back in their native habitat - native habitat changed by human growth, politics and attitudes. The most glaring omission from the Mexican wolf recovery plan was a population goal under which the wolf could be considered recovered. Authors of the recovery plan were more concerned about survival of the sub-species in general and perhaps could not imagine a time when the wolves would be ready for delisting. One major attempt has been made to start the process of writing a new recovery plan but was stymied by legal issues affecting all wolves in the continental U.S. Perhaps the time is right to put some major efforts into drafting a recovery plan.
What happened to the Mexican gray wolf?
The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) - also known as the lobo - is the most highly endangered subspecies of gray wolf. In fact, the Mexican gray wolf is one of the rarest mammals in the world. It is estimated that at least 4,000 of these wolves once roamed across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona and were equally as abundant in Mexico.
Like the other gray wolves in the United States, Mexican gray wolves were exterminated by government programs and private individuals to the point of near extinction. When the idea for wolf recovery in the Southwest began in the late 70s, officials had to face the reality that two of the indigenous species were extinct. There were originally three separate sub-species of gray wolves that could be considered Mexican wolves – Canis lupus (C.l.) monstrabillis, C.l. mogollonensis, and C.l. baileyi. By the time wolves were wanted to re-establish a population, only C.l. baileyi remained – and not in the U.S.
Recovery Efforts
A former wolf-trapper, Roy T. McBride, was commissioned in 1977 by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a survey of Mexican wolves in Mexico. What started as a survey ended as a trapping mission with the goal of starting a captive breeding program. Over a period of three years, McBride live-trapped five Mexican wolves in two regions of Mexico. Three of those wolves became founders of what came to be known as the McBride lineage of the Mexican wolf captive breeding program. The first litter of pups from the McBride lineage was born at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona in 1978.
By 1995, about 100 Mexican wolves had been born to the McBride line. Recovery officials were understandably concerned about the low number of founders (and therefore the level of inbreeding) for the captive population of this most rare of North American canids. Early on in the captive breeding program, the search had begun for additional Mexican wolves to add to the captive blood line. As there were not thought to be any wild Mexican wolves remaining, even in Mexico, recovery officials had to turn to captive populations of wolves.
Mexican gray wolf being released into the wilds of the southwest. Photo courtesy of USFWS.
There were two captive populations that were considered. One was the Mexican wolves from the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. The zoo population was founded by two wolves in the mid 1970’s. The other captive population was a group of what were thought to be Mexican wolves that were privately owned. This captive group was also founded by only two wolves. The male was trapped near Tumacacori, Arizona in 1959 and the female was purchased by a Canadian tourist in Yecora, Sonora, Mexico in 1961. After an extensive genetic assessment of these two captive-born groups, the decision was made to add both of them to the captive breeding program for a much needed genetic infusion. Eight wolves were taken from the zoo in Mexico City and named the Aragon lineage. Twenty-two wolves were added to the breeding program from the privately owned group in the United States which came to be known as the Ghost Ranch line.
By the time these two new lineages were added, there were a relatively large number of wolves representing the McBride line. The same became true in the Southwestern wilderness when Mexican wolves were first returned to the wild in 1998. As more representation from the Aragon and Ghost Ranch lineages has been bred into the population of captive wolves, the push has begun to also increase those lines in the wild population.
Mexican gray wolf prior to release in the wilds of the southwest. Photo courtesy of USFWS.
To assist with that goal, in November 2006, Wolf Haven received a male known as 752 from the California Wolf Center. Half of 752’s genes come from the Ghost Ranch lineage, making him an extraordinarily valuable male, genetically speaking, for the direction the program is trying to take at the moment. His chosen mate, known at Wolf Haven as Lola, but known to the recovery program as 908, is a tri-lineage wolf, meaning that she has ancestors from all three lineages. While recovery officials need 752 to infuse the wild population with his rare genes, they would also like the option of having a wolf of his lineage contribute to the captive population. As a male, it is relatively simple to obtain and preserve his genetic material for future use. Before breeding season this year, biologists from the red wolf program which is based at Point Defiance in near-by Tacoma, collected semen from 752 to be stored for potential future use. Artificial insemination has been used with some success, both in the red wolf and Mexican wolf breeding programs.
Semen collection of genetically valuable #752. Photo by Julie Lawrence.
As one of about forty breeding facilities for the Mexican wolf SSP, Wolf Haven has had four litters born here since our acceptance into the program in 1994. We are hoping for another litter this year from 752 and Lola. As with all things involving wild animals, however, there are no guarantees. As one of only three pre-release facilities in the United States, we have had two packs released directly into the wild in Arizona – the Hawks Nest Pack in 1998 and the Cienega Pack in 2000. We are hoping that 752 and Lola may be the alpha pair of the next pack of Mexican wolves to be released from Wolf Haven.
Female Mexican gray wolf pup born spring 2007 at Wolf Haven. Photo by Erik Wilber.
The next time you visit Wolf Haven, make sure and check out our exhibit Mexican gray wolves Diablo, and his companion, Gypsy, who is Lola’s sister. About a quarter of a mile away in one of our pre-release enclosures, 752 and Lola are living in relative isolation preparing for the time when they may join their wild brothers and sisters as the last hope for this incredibly rare canid.
