US Fish and Wildlife Service quietly suspends aerial count of Mexican gray wolves

An annual helicopter count of endangered wolves has been indefinitely paused, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service won’t say why.

The Mexican gray wolf is a highly endangered subspecies of the gray wolf, which U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the Arizona Department of Game and Fish are working to recover. There were 286 Mexican gray wolves counted in New Mexico and Arizona during the 2025 population count.

But this year’s aerial operations have been paused, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Garrett Peterson. Ground counts of the wolves are being conducted. The agency did not answer questions about why the aerial operations have been paused and when they might resume. The aerial operations were originally scheduled for sometime in January.

The New Mexico and Arizona departments of Game and Fish typically assist in the aerial count. New Mexico’s Game and Fish Department is working with Fish and Wildlife to “better understand challenges to the survey,” said spokesman Darren Vaughan. He did not know why the aerial count was canceled, and directed other questions to Fish and Wildlife.

One Fish and Wildlife Service publication describes the annual population count as “an integral part of the Mexican wolf recovery program,” because it provides information about the minimum numbers of wolves, packs, breeding pairs and pups in the wild, allowing agencies to track progress toward recovery goals. The annual count includes ground counts that begin in fall, and aerial operations in winter.

During aerial operations, specific wolves are darted from a helicopter. The sedated wolf is examined, measured, vaccinated and fitted with a radio collar, according to an agency guide on the wolf count. The animal also gets its blood drawn. Then the wolf is crated. When sedation wears off, it’s driven back into the wild and released.

Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, has some reservations about the aerial count being an invasive way to manage the species, but believes it’s an important part of the science being done to save the species. Collaring the wolves provides a lot of information that helps with the program’s management, she said, and valuable genetic information is collected during aerial operations.

“It feels like knowing the genetics of the population is really important at this point, while we're facing a bottleneck, and the helicopter counts are the time that they do a lot of that collecting,” Anderson said. “So the counting itself, they can do most of it from the ground, but the efficient data gathering, collar trading, all of that stuff is something that we'll be missing out on this year if they don't get to it.”

Efforts to strip the gray wolf and the Mexican gray wolf of endangered species status are ongoing in Congress. A bill that would strip the gray wolf of endangered and threatened species status passed the House in December. A bill to delist the Mexican gray wolf sponsored by Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., is scheduled to be marked up by the House Natural Resources Committee on Thursday.

Wandering wolf found dead

A young Mexican gray wolf, m3065 — nicknamed “Taylor” — was killed over the weekend after being hit by a vehicle along I-40 near Grants, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish confirmed.

The wolf had gained attention after wandering north of I-40 outside the Mexican wolf experimental population area. Environmental advocacy groups have pushed for eliminating the experimental population area boundaries and allowing Mexican wolves to roam farther north.

“His persistence and self determination in deciding to live at Mount Taylor is really a lesson for how policy should be set,” Anderson said. “And if there's any outcome of this, I hope that they consider building more wildlife crossings and safe passage for wildlife along our highways, because we're losing, not just threatened and endangered species, but other wildlife this way all the time.”

Taylor was originally found by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish in the Mount Taylor area, although genetic testing showed he was related to a wolf pack in Arizona. The male wolf was given a radio collar and relocated farther south twice last year because of the potential risk of death, according to past news releases. Each time he wandered back to the Mount Taylor area. In the fall, he made rapid movements north, likely looking for a mate.

“Taylor’s death is a heartbreaking reminder that highways like I-40 are not just lines on a map, they are lethal barriers for wildlife,” Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project Executive Director Claire Musser said in a statement.