A female Mexican gray wolf crossed into Northern New Mexico last week from the Experimental Mexican Wolf Population Area in southern New Mexico, where state and federal authorities have managed a reintroduction program since 1998.
As of Tuesday (Jan. 17), the wolf was located roughly 30 miles east of Taos, according to data transmitted from its radio collar.
“The wolf dispersed from its natal Rocky Prairie Pack at the end of 2022 and was documented crossing the I-40 boundary” on or around Jan. 9, according to a press release last week from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, which said the department, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “is monitoring the f2754’s movements.”
Mexican gray wolves outside the experimental population area are still listed and protected as federally endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Mexican gray wolves have come into conflict with cattle since the program began, leading many ranchers, particularly in southwestern New Mexico, where the bulk of the wolves live, to strongly oppose the species’ reintroduction.
In 2021, 127 confirmed livestock depredations by Mexican gray wolves were recorded, 79 of which took place in New Mexico.
“Unless the wolf actively poses a threat to human safety, livestock owners and the public cannot haze or harass wolves north of I-40 without violating the Act,” Game and Fish said in the release. “The Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team has notified private landowners in the area.”
Game and Fish referred inquiries about the wolf to the Fish and Wildlife Service, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Anyone convicted of killing, harming or harassing an endangered Mexican wolf is subject to a fine of up to $50,000 and up to one year in jail, plus potential civil penalties of up to $25,000. Mexican gray wolves, which are smaller than their northern gray wolf cousins in Colorado and Wyoming, are sometimes confused for coyotes; however, hunters are expected to know their targets.
Typically, wolves that cross and remain above I-40, which marks the northern boundary of the wolf’s permitted population area, have been captured and then released back to the experimental population area. Several wolves have been killed by vehicles in the more-populous portions of New Mexico and Arizona above I-40, while others have been killed by firearms or other human interventions. Some Mexican gray wolves that cross over I-40 simply return below the highway again.
The migrating wolf, which is identified as f2754, has had a radio collar since she was released into the wild; but for reasons that aren’t clear, it dropped off the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Collared Mexican Wolf Project Public Location Map for at least several days up until Tuesday. Prior to Tuesday, its latest radio collar data, from Jan. 2, indicated the wolf was last radio-located in the eastern foothills of the Manzano Mountains south of Edgewood, which already represented an unusually far-eastern territory since the animals were reintroduced.
“It is a little surprising to see a wolf that far northeast; that may be the furthest northeast I’ve seen one” located, said Bryan Bird, southwest director for Defenders of Wildlife, which Bird said advocates for the safe capture and relocation of the animal below I-40.
“It’s dangerous out there,” he said. “I wish her well and hope she doesn’t run into trouble, but the likelihood she will run into trouble is high. These wolves roaming outside the experimental population area have either been hit by cars or shot before they can be picked up. And I think, in this situation, this wolf may have important genetic contributions to make to the Mexican gray wolf population.”
The genetic diversity of Mexican gray wolves is extremely limited in the wild, since the entire population is bred from the last seven Mexican gray wolves known to exist in the late 1970s. As of the latest count in 2021, there were estimated to be at least 196 Mexican gray wolves in the wild. The 2022 count is underway, and the results are typically released in the spring of each following year.
Wolf f2475 is also headed toward a population of northern gray wolves in far northwestern Colorado and southern Wyoming, however, which could provide more genetic material. And, as a result of a ballot initiative approved by a thin margin of mostly-urban Colorado voters, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is bound by state statute to begin reintroducing more northern gray wolves to the wild before the end of this year.
It’s inevitable, Bird said, that “eventually the northern gray wolves are going to range south and the Mexican gray wolves will wander north.”
“We maintain that Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado are historic habitat for Mexican wolves, and that they at one time intermingled there and exchanged genetic material,” Bird added. “Despite the danger to [wolf f2475], it’s encouraging to see them dispersing outside the experimental population area and establish new territories,” Bird continued.
Many wolf advocates believe the I-40 boundary is “arbitrary,” according to a Jan. 11 joint press release from several conservation groups, which noted that f2475 has migrated farther north than any other Mexican gray wolf since the reintroduction program began.
The wolf, “named Asha by schoolchildren in an annual pup naming contest,” according to the release, is originally from Arizona and part of the Rocky Prairie pack. She moved east of Interstate 25 late in 2022 and has since journeyed back and forth over Interstate 40 east of Albuquerque.
“Wolves like Asha clearly show us that political lines like the Interstate 40 boundary are meaningless to a wolf, and the policies limiting wolf dispersal to the northern parts of Arizona and New Mexico must be revised,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project. “We’re cheering her progress north and hope that the wildlife management agencies will let her run wild and free.”
“Wolves evolved to play a profound role in the ecosystem, supporting the health of forests, riparian areas, and meadows, along with nearly all of the plants and animals that live there,” said Sally Paez, staff attorney for New Mexico Wild. “We celebrate Asha’s journey and urge policymakers to expand opportunities for wolves to reclaim the remaining wild, remote landscapes across the southwest, where they belong.”
“Asha is doing what wild wolves are born to do, roam wild and free,” said Renee Seacor, carnivore conservation advocate for Project Coyote and The Rewilding Institute. “We celebrate her wanderings and urge U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to allow her to roam freely. Her trek gives us hope that, one day, lobos may return and expand their range into the Southern Rockies.”
This article originally appeared in the Taos News.
