OPINION: Lobos' last stand? Balancing conservation success with threats in DC

The Mexican gray wolf population at the end of 2025 had increased to 319 wolves in the wild, up from 286 the prior year. Arizona Game and Fish in a news release indicated the endangered wolves had moved one step closer to recovery goals.

But they aren’t there yet.

Last summer, in a premature effort to delist Mexican wolves, House Resolution 4255 was introduced in Congress. The Center for Biological Diversity responded with a press release stating that if passed, the bill would “effectively end recovery efforts for this unique, highly imperiled subspecies."

In January H.R. 4255 passed the Natural Resources Committee and was recommended for a vote by the full House of Representatives.

The Saving Animals from Extinction (SAFE) program works to recover endangered species. Our own ABQ BioPark has been a longtime participant in SAFE, working toward the recovery of Mexican wolves.

In December the BioPark completed a new 4.5-acre wolf conservation facility. Before the wolves arrived, I had a chance to tour the off-exhibit site with Lynn Tupa, the BioPark’s associate director.

The former park has been fenced with the landscape left natural — brush, willow, a few cottonwoods. It’s quiet, away from the hubbub of a nearby neighborhood and public areas of the BioPark. Cameras mounted throughout the facility enable staff to monitor wolves while minimizing human contact.

A lot of planning and care went into the design of the new habitats. Sick or injured wolves can be treated and rehabilitated in small enclosures at the front of the facility. Larger habitats at the rear with shade structures, concrete lined ponds and culverts for potential dens provide more space in a natural setting for pairs or families of wolves.

Nine wolves were moved into the new habitats before the end of the year. They came from SAFE facilities (including the BioPark) that all work closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in its effort to recover the Mexican wolf population and to reintroduce the wolves to a portion of their historical habitat in New Mexico and Arizona.

The entire population of Mexican wolves, both wild and captive, is descended from seven wolves, captured in the 1970s with the goal of saving the species. Careful breeding in SAFE facilities has allowed the population to grow. Maintaining genetic diversity, especially in the wild, however, continues to be a challenge and is critical to ensuring wolves are able to survive and thrive long term in the wild.

SAFE oversees Mexican wolf captive breeding at approximately 60 facilities across the U.S. and Mexico. Tupa told me the BioPark was selected at SAFE’s 2025 meeting to host a breeding pair this year.

Wolves typically breed in February. By now our local pair of wolves will have had a few weeks to grow accustomed to their new home and to each other. Whether or not they mate will be up to them.

Wolf pups are born about two months after breeding, so by mid-April BioPark staff will be watching for signs that the female wolf is preparing to give birth. They will also be in close contact with FWS to coordinate a possible foster of BioPark pups into a family of wolves in the wild with a new litter of their own.

For now, placing captive wolf pups in wild dens is the most commonly used method to attempt to boost genetic diversity in the wild population.

While waiting for the BioPark’s announcement about wolf pups, I’ll be writing letters to my congressional representatives to let them know I support continued protection for Mexican wolves. I hope you will consider doing the same.

Paula Nixon is a freelance writer and has lived in northern New Mexico for the past 30 years.