The Defenders of Wildlife has called returning the Mexican wolf to its former range in the Southwest the single most important wolf conservation initiative of the decade.

November 3, 1999
Web posted at: 3:29 p.m. EST (2029 GMT)

By Environmental News Network staff

Conservationists are applauding a recent federal court decision that dismissed an attempt by the New Mexico Cattlegrowers Association to end the Mexican wolf reintroduction program.

Defenders of Wildlife has called returning the Mexican wolf to its former range in the Southwest the single most important wolf conservation initiative of the decade.

"This is a victory not only for the wolves but also for conservationists who are fighting the American Farm Bureau Federation's attempts to reverse wolf reintroductions in the Southwest, in the Yellowstone ecosystem, and wherever else reintroductions may be proposed in the future," said Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen.

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One of the plaintiff's main arguments was that wolves already existed in the recovery area, and that the wolves being released were not really wolves, but hybrid wolves.

But, in a 48-page opinion issued Oct. 28, Senior U.S. District Judge Edwin Mechem noted scientific evidence that the wolves are not hybridized and that wolves were absent from the Southwest for decades before reintroduction began in 1998.

The Mexican wolf reintroduction program aims to establish a wild population of at least 100 wolves.

Still pending before an appeals court in Denver is another Farm Bureau-inspired lawsuit against wolf reintroduction in the Yellowstone ecosystem and central Idaho.

The Mexican wolf or El Lobo, a subspecies of the gray wolf, once roamed freely through the oak-woodlands of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. In the 1800s settlers introduced domestic livestock into the wolves' range. Soon, hunting and overgrazing decimated native prey populations. With their prey base scarce, wolves turned to livestock for food.

Intensive predator removal efforts from the late-1800s to the mid-1900s extirpated the Mexican wolf from the wild in the United States portion of its range. Now the most genetically unique wolf in the United States is also the most endangered.

The reintroduction objective is to re-establish a wild population of at least 100 Mexican wolves. To compensate livestock owners for any livestock lost to wolves, the Defenders of Wildlife has a Wolf Compensation Trust Fund.

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