A bill that would disallow the state from transporting Mexican Gray Wolf pups into Arizona or spending any public money or resources on them will be heading to the governor’s desk after one Republican declared that 50 years of efforts to save the species from extinction are really part of a larger conspiracy to create a “global government.”
State Sen. Sylvia Allen also blamed the wolf’s existence for the high cost of beef.
“If you want to know why your hamburger is so expensive in the market, it is because of the Mexican gray wolf,” Allen, a Republican from Snowflake, said while defending Senate Bill 1280.
The price of beef is up sharply in recent years — it was $3.81 per pound in March 2020 and was $6.90 on average in May 2026 — but not due to efforts to conserve the gray wolf populations. Instead, a combination of low cattle inventory, cheaper imports, rising costs of production and President Donald Trump’s tariffs have driven prices higher. (Ground beef prices have risen roughly $1.30 per pound since Trump began his second term in January 2025.)
And with the resurgence of a parasitic screwworm among American cattle, prices are likely to rise more. That parasite’s spread comes after cuts by the Trump administration to programs meant to monitor these types of outbreaks.
The bill, by Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, prohibits the Arizona Game and Fish Commission from transporting wolf pups into the state or using public money to transport the animal.
Allen claimed during her vote explanation Tuesday afternoon that, in the 1990s, an unnamed group of people were attempting to build a “global government” whose strategy included a “war” on mining, logging and ranching. That strategy, according to Allen, included listing species like the Mexican Gray Wolf and Mexican Spotted Owl as endangered species to be included on the federal Endangered Species Act.
“We have elevated animal life above humans,” Allen said.
The Mexican gray wolf was designated as an endangered species in 1976, and the first captive wolves were released into the wild in 1998. The wolf, whose most recent population estimates put it at around 286, has long been the target of cattle ranchers, who have been actively lobbying the Trump administration to delist the animal from the Endangered Species Act.
Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar introduced a measure to do just that last year.
The wolves have also been a major target of this year’s legislature, with multiple bills in both the House and Senate aimed at the animal with some aiming to allow ranchers to kill them with others seeking to delist the animal from the ESA.
“I just think that this population of wolves, which was down to seven animals and only one female and they’ve been able to get close to up to 300 now and to not allow the puppies into Arizona would limit the number even more so,” Rep. Patty Contreras, D-Phoenix, said during the state House of Representatives’ vote on the bill. “They’re the apex predator, but they are the ones there to help keep the forest clean of the animals that are sickly…It really is a bad idea to limit the animals in this area.”
The bill is similar to House Bill 2787 by Rep. Lupe Contreras, R-Benson, which would disallow state dollars to be used for conservation efforts, which was vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
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