How many Mexican gray wolves call New Mexico home?
A Mexican wolf from the Eagle Creek pack was captured and collared during the 2023 annual count in Arizona.Aislinn Maestas
Savannah Cantrell, volunteer technician with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, carries a tranquilized male Mexican gray wolf from the helicopter during the annual Mexican wolf count in January 2023.Chancey Bush
Dr. Susan Dicks, veterinarian of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, measures the incisors of a female Mexican gray wolf during the annual Mexican wolf count near Apache Creek in southwest New Mexico in January 2023.Chancey Bush
A sedated Mexican wolf is muzzled before being given a health check and a new radio collar during the annual Mexican wolf count.Aislinn Maestas
Grace Dougan, volunteer with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, carries a tranquilized female Mexican gray wolf from a helicopter during the agency’s annual wolf count in southwest New Mexico on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. As part of the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Plan, each year federal, state and tribal agencies across New Mexico and Arizona track and record the progress of population growth and overall health of the endangered species.Chancey Bush
The number of Mexican wolf packs documented at the end of 2023 in New Mexico and Arizona.
138
The minimum number of wolf pups born in 2023.
26
The number of breeding pairs counted in New Mexico and Arizona in 2023.
113
The number of collared wolves in the wild at the end of 2023.
15
The number of fostered Mexican wolf pups that have survived to breeding age.
10
The number of fostered wolves that have successfully produced litters in the wild.
350
The number of Mexican wolves in facilities throughout the U.S. and Mexico under the Mexican Wolf Saving Animals from Extinction program.
SOURCE: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Mexican gray wolf numbers are on the rise in New Mexico, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcement.
The annual Mexican gray wolf census found at least 257 of the endangered wolves in New Mexico and Arizona, up 15 from the previous year. The count shows a 6% increase in the number of Mexican gray wolves living in the Southwest.
There were 113 wolves in Arizona and 144 in New Mexico. In New Mexico, researchers found 36 wolf packs and 15 breeding pairs.
“In the aggregate, the 2023 data points out that Mexican wolf recovery has come a long way since the first release,” said Jim deVos, Arizona Game and Fish Department Mexican wolf coordinator.
“Each year, the free-roaming Mexican wolf population numbers increase and the areas they occupy expands. Genetic management using pups from captivity is also showing results. In total, 99 pups carefully selected for their genetic value have been placed in 40 wild dens since 2016, and some of these fosters have produced litters of their own. While recovery is in the future, examining the last decade of data certainly provides optimism that recovery will be achieved.”
An interagency team counts the wolf population from November through December.
The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity voiced disappointment that the population growth isn’t greater, arguing that Fish and Wildlife should consider releasing wolf families from captivity together into the wild, instead of placing foster pups into wild wolf dens.
Mexican gray wolves were first reintroduced to the wild in 1998
FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2019, photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, members of the Mexican gray wolf recovery team gathere data from a wolf captured during an annual census near Alpine, Ariz. A coalition of groups argue in a petition submitted Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022, to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that small statured Mexican gray wolves are often mistaken for coyotes and that protecting coyotes would in turn cutdown on wolf deaths. (Mark Davis/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP, File)Mark Davis
A female Mexican gray wolf at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico in 2011. Wildlife advocates hope new rules will stop the endangered wolves from being blamed for killing livestock they didn’t eat.Susan Montoya Bryan
Mexican gray wolf pups born May 2020.Courtesy of New Mexico BioPark Society
This Nov. 22, 2019 image provided by the ABQ BioPark shows Archer, a Mexican gray wolf that was born in May at the zoo in Albuquerque. The BioPark is among the partners working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others to recover the endangered species.Courtesy of ABQ BioPark
This June 7 image shows the female Mexican gray wolf F2754 during a health check before being released into the wild in southeastern Arizona. Federal biologists confirmed Thursday that the wolf has traveled beyond the boundaries of the Mexican gray wolf recovery area for the second time and has been located west of Jemez Springs.Aislinn Maestas
Grace Dougan, volunteer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, carries a tranquilized female Mexican gray wolf from the helicopter during the annual Mexican wolf count near Apache Creek in southwest N.M., Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. The female wolf was found with a bite wound on her neck. Vets treated her wound, administered antibiotics and vaccinations, drew her blood, measured her weight and length, and fitted her with a radio collar before she was released back into the wild. As part of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan, each year federal, state and tribal agencies across New Mexico and Arizona track and record the progress of population growth and overall health of the endangered species. (Chancey Bush/ Albuquerque Journal)Chancey Bush
Grace Dougan, volunteer with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, carries a tranquilized female Mexican gray wolf from a helicopter during the agency’s annual wolf count in southwest New Mexico on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. As part of the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Plan, each year federal, state and tribal agencies across New Mexico and Arizona track and record the progress of population growth and overall health of the endangered species.Chancey Bush
A Mexican gray wolf walks in an enclosure at Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood in 2002.Journal File
This photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a gray wolf in 2008.Gary Kramer
A multi-agency wildlife team has captured and collared seven of the 20 Mexican gray wolf pups that were cross-fostered from captivity into wild dens in Arizona and New Mexico. (Courtesy New Mexico Game and Fish)Albuquerque Journal
“Mexican wolves’ population growth renders them more resilient to perils ranging from wildfires to poachers, but these numbers are still disappointingly low,” said Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I no longer worry that all the wolves could suddenly disappear. While that’s clearly a good thing, the government’s genetic mismanagement still threatens to doom this unique, arid-lands subspecies of the gray wolf.”
Craig Miller, senior Southwest representative for conservation group Defenders of Wildlife, also called for more efforts to improve the genetics of the Mexican gray wolf population.
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“The increase in Mexican wolf numbers in the wild is the result of hard work and coordination between many partners,” Miller said. “But without more effort to improve the genetics of the population, we can’t celebrate yet. We have a long way to go for the Mexican gray wolf to fulfill its ecological potential.”
