ALAMOGORDO – County Commissioners recently passed a resolution that supports sound, scientifically-based wildlife management rather than federal land-use restrictions or federal listings under the Endangered Species Act regarding Mexican gray wolves at their monthly commission meeting Sept. 8.
The Mexican gray wolf is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Historically, these wolves ranged from central Mexico through southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico and southwestern Texas.
According to a report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), when ranchers moved into these areas in the late 1800s and early 1900s, conflicts between humans and wolves began to increase. The ranchers killed many wolves to protect their livestock. By the 1970s, the wolves were nearly extinct.
After the Mexican gray wolf was protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1976, the FWS, coordinating with Mexico, spearheaded captive breeding and reintroduction programs and planned to release wolves into the species’ former territorial range in the United States.
Source: County passes resolution on management of gray wolves