Arizona Game and Fish officials say they’re preparing a petition to downgrade Mexican gray wolves from the endangered species list to the threatened category.
The move demonstrates the successes of the recovery program. But it also has alarmed wolf advocates.
Nearly 20 years in, state wildlife officials say they’ve reached critical population thresholds.
They’re trying to reach an average of 320 wolves across Arizona and New Mexico over four years.
Last year, the agency identified at least 319 in the wild.
Wolves have also been released south of the border to start rebuilding the population in Mexico.
“Following the successful transfer of 12 Mexican wolves from the United States to Mexico earlier this year and with two key recovery plan criteria within reach, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the New Mexico Department of Wildlife and the Arizona Game and Fish Department are preparing a petition for downlisting the subspecies based on these successes,” officials said in a media release earlier this month.
But Greta Anderson with Western Watersheds says those numbers don’t tell the full story.
“We’ve argued against those recovery criteria because we think that's pretty arbitrary and doesn't speak to the long-term genetic viability of the population,” Anderson says. “Based on the information we have about the ongoing genetic needs of the species, and the vulnerability of the populations in the wild, we don't think that they're ready to even have a lesser level of federal protection.”
Anderson says she expects a downlisting petition to be submitted in within the next two years.
Nearly 150 captive-born wolf pups have been introduced into dens to increase the genetic diversity of the population.
But Anderson says more needs to be done.
The current population is about as diverse as siblings.
She says if the species is downgraded, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could hand state agencies management of the species.
Anderson says she’s worried that could weaken protection for the animals and lead to more wolves being killed, narrowing the genetic pool even more.
