Another endangered wolf in New Mexico travels north of I-40

A Mexican gray wolf traveled to the Mount Taylor area last week, the fifth wolf since 2017 to leave an experimental population area to roam the mountain in northwest New Mexico.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are monitoring the male wolf, M3065, and have not announced any plans to capture it. The wolf does have a radio collar tracking its location.

The poster child for roaming wolves, a female wolf nicknamed Asha, remains in captivity despite a plan to release her and her litter of pups in June. U.S. Fish and Wildlife will not explain why the planned release never happened.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife is working with other agencies and zoos to recover the endangered Mexican gray wolf by tracking the genetics of different wolves, breeding captive Mexican gray wolves and releasing pups into wild dens. The agency also vaccinates wild wolves and monitors their locations.

The species’ recovery plan includes keeping the wolves within a specific area of Arizona and New Mexico, with Interstate 40 serving as the northern boundary. When wolves leave that area, sometimes they are allowed to roam and other times they are relocated back into its bounds.

Environmental advocates have long pushed for expanding the species’ range beyond the experimental population area.

“It’s a natural instinct to disperse and try to meet unrelated wolves with whom to mate and have unrelated offspring,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project. “This is a sign of a healthy, growing wolf population — that it’s expanding. Enforcing the boundary and putting wolves into captivity, or even re-releasing them, is just an exercise in disrupting the natural progression of the wolf population in New Mexico and Arizona.”

A female Mexican gray wolf, F2996, traveled north of I-40 to the Mount Taylor area in March after escaping from a crate west of Show Low, Arizona. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had captured the wolf for an annual population count when it escaped. It was found dead before the end of the month, and the cause of death is under investigation.

The most recent northbound wolf, M3065, lived in the Mount Taylor area previously. The New Mexico Game and Fish Department accidentally captured him in a trap meant for coyotes on the LBar Wildlife Management Area, then relocated him to the Gila Flat area of Sierra County. Now that he’s back near Mount Taylor, the department plans to monitor his location and work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife on any next steps.

Female wolf F2754, nicknamed Asha, was placed in captivity in 2023 after twice journeying north of the interstate. The agency planned to release Asha once she was able to breed in captivity. This spring, Asha mated and had a litter of five pups.

Fish and Wildlife planned to release Asha, her mate and their pups in June at Ladder Ranch, according to statements from the agency and the original 2025 release and translocation proposal. The release was meant to coincide with elk calving season, which peaks in May and June, so that the wolf pups would be taught to hunt elk instead of developing a taste for cattle, according to the proposal.

“I’m afraid if these wolves, Asha’s family, age out of that puppy stage, they’re going to get resistance to releasing them,” Anderson said.

Shortly before the release was supposed to happen, it was postponed with no explanation. Despite repeated requests from the Journal, the agency has not answered questions about why the release was postponed or whether Fish and Wildlife still plans to release the wolves from captivity.

“I do not have an update to share with you at this time. Will reach out as soon as I hear something,” is the only answer the Journal was given from an agency spokesperson.

Initially, the agency told Anderson that the release was postponed because of logistics, she said. She believes the delay is political.

“When they captured her in 2023, they promised that they would release her if she had babies. They promised again last summer that they would release her this year if she had babies. The only thing that’s changed in that time has been the (presidential) administration,” Anderson said.

In early July, 36 conservation groups sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service demanding the wolf pack’s release. The letter has gone unanswered.