The House Committee on Natural Resources advanced a bill that would remove the Mexican gray wolf from the Endangered Species List.
Supporters of the Enhancing Safety for Animals Act say the wolf population has rebounded since it was nearly eradicated in the wild decades ago and now threatens livestock in the region.
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar introduced the measure and says it would protect rural communities along with local ranches that’ve suffered financial losses.
"Since being reintroduced to the wild in Arizona, Mexican wolves have preyed on cattle, livestock, and even family pets, causing significant financial losses and economic hardship on family-run ranches,” Gosar wrote in his weekly newsletter.
He didn’t agree to an interview with KNAU. But Gosar says the Mexican wolf population has recovered since the species was reintroduced in the wild in 1998.
At last count, there were at least 286 wild wolves in eastern Arizona and New Mexico.
Seventy conservation groups have urged Congress to reject the bill. They say it only benefits industry.
“Representative Gosar doesn't seem to understand that these animals are still endangered, they are not recovered, and that they belong, they belong here in Arizona and New Mexico, in the Southwest,” says Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter.
She says genetic diversity remains a primary hurdle in the recovery of Mexican wolves.
The Southwest’s wild population stems from just six animals captured in the late 1970s.
“The numbers are moving in the right direction, but again, there are the genetic issues that have to be addressed,” Bahr says. “I don't know if it's willful ignorance on his part or he's just anti-wolf, but it is very concerning.”
In addition to the House bill, four bills in the Arizona legislature also target the species.
One sponsored by state Sen. David Farnsworth would prohibit the Arizona Game and Fish Department from assisting in the release of new wolf pups in wild dens.
Biologists say so-called cross-fostering is a key strategy the Mexican wolf recovery program uses to improve the genetic diversity of the wild population.
