Once driven to the brink of extinction, Mexican gray wolves have slowly returned to the U.S. Southwest.
Once driven to the brink of extinction, Mexican gray wolves have slowly returned to the U.S. Southwest. For the first time since their reintroduction more than two decades ago, their numbers total more than 200, according to federal officials.
“This milestone has been 25 years in the making,” Brady McGee, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican wolf recovery coordinator, said in a statement. “In 2022, we recorded more packs, more breeding pairs, and a growing occupied range, proving we are on the path to recovery.”
Starting in November, wildlife managers tracked radio-collared wolves, deployed remote cameras, collected scat, and undertook ground and aerial surveys, counting at least 241 wolves in all. Wolf numbers are up 23 percent over last year and are double what they were in 2017.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
A Mexican gray wolf. (Photo Credit: Jim Clark/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
