Mystery Grand Canyon Animal Is a Gray Wolf—Can It Survive?.
Linking Wolf Populations
The agency also determined the wolf was a female, which biologists say are less likely to disperse from their packs in search of new territory.
Michael Robinson, a conservationist with Arizona’s Center for Biological Diversity who advocates for the recovery of top predators across the West, notes that the Kaibab—part of the greater Grand Canyon ecosystem—is ideal wolf habitat. (See an interactive on the return of the wolf to much of the United States.)
“This wolf, by validating that the animals have viable [routes] out of the northern Rockies, embodies the hope that wolves can truly recover.”
The genetic health of Mexican gray wolves depends on the free movement between isolated populations, according to Carroll, writing in the Journal of Conservation Biology last year.
“Wolves will never be fully recovered if they’re just island populations scattered across the West. These populations need to connect up,” said Carroll. (See more stunning gray wolf pictures.)
He said that the FWS, however, has not developed “a comprehensive strategy” for the recovery of the gray wolf across its entire range.
Instead, the agency has concentrated on recovery in select regions. “By not pursuing a comprehensive strategy, Fish and Wildlife Service management makes movements like we saw with the Kaibab wolf less likely.”