Mexican Wolf Protections At Risk — Take Action

New legislation targeting Mexican wolves is moving to the U.S. House for a full vote, and we need your help to speak up for this iconic Sky Island species.

Last year, U.S. Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz) introduced the bill, H.R. 4255, calling for lobos’ removal from the endangered species list. This cynical, industry-backed move is not supported by science and would effectively end decades-long recovery efforts for an ecologically and culturally important species whose numbers are still perilously low (just 286 individuals in the U.S. and fewer than 24 in Mexico) and whose population still suffers from low genetic diversity.  

Mexican gray wolves once numbered in the thousands in Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora, and only recently have they started to slowly recover. Key benchmarks haven’t been met yet, however, calling for at least 320 wolves in the wild and ideally 750 in three connected subpopulations before delisting. Until that time, the Endangered Species Act is the best and last line of defense to avoid extinction and help these beautiful canines recover.  

If ESA protections were removed, wolf releases that are urgently needed to diversify the gene pool would come to a stop. Federal funding for the species’ recovery would be slashed. Federal monitoring would be shut down, along with their efforts to investigate and resolve wolf-livestock conflicts. And once again, lobos could be subject to poaching, without federal prohibitions on lethal take. 

Take action today: Using the form below, urge your elected officials to oppose legislation that would cut legal protections for these wolves. 

Photo of Mexican wolf by MTSOfan/Flickr.