Rich Bard is a wildlife biologist who began his career as a zookeeper. Having spent most of his adult life moving around the country working with various wild animals, he settled near the coast of Maine in 2004. Amid the striking beauty of this remote region, he passes the time with his family, hiking, snowshoeing, gardening and watching the tide ebb and flow.
| Help Give Mexican Gray Wolves a Second Chance—They Won’t Have a Third |
| Saturday, 13 March 2010 | Rich Bard | Blog Entry |
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For a decade, a small, experimental population of Mexican wolves has been allowed to roam free in Arizona and New Mexico. They are doing their part to save the species by forming packs, hunting native prey and by breeding and rearing their young. Now we must do our part by standing out of their way and letting the wolves be wolves. The wild population of Mexican wolves must follow the rules of evolution, which are understood by every creature and can be summarized as “stay alive long enough to breed and raise your young.” But these emissaries from a species that nearly blinked out of existence are also subject to another set of rules, decreed by politicians and unknown to the wolves themselves. Violations of these rules have resulted in the death and removal of many more wolves than failure to live up to evolution’s standards. The rules say that a Mexican wolf can live in the wild only if it eats these animals, but not those animals. It can only remain free if it lives here, but not there, the arbitrary boundary marked at most by a strand of barbed wire. I worry for one of my favorite wolves, M619, which I saw many times while working for the Mexican wolf reintroduction project in the early 2000s. M619 was formerly the alpha male of the Hawks Nest pack, but as he aged, he was deposed by a rival and thrown out of the pack. For the past couple of years, he has wandered, presumably alone, on the outskirts of his former territory. Now, in the latest report from the wolf project, M619 has headed southwest, crossed a barbed-wire fence and is on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, part of the “no go” zone for wolves. The San Carlos Apaches (unlike the neighboring White Mountain Apache Tribe, which is a cooperator in Mexican wolf recovery) have made a stand against wolf recovery and require any wolf on the reservation to be removed. I don’t know how many wolves have been shot or trapped on the San Carlos Reservation, but there have been many, including at least five or so that I personally moved. I can only hope that M619 doesn’t like it there and travels back to familiar ground before it is too late. At least 10 years old, M619 is one of, if not the oldest wild-born Mexican wolf still roaming the forest. It would be a tremendous indignity for this senior citizen to be “managed” in his final days. The wild population of Mexican wolves fell by about 20% in 2009 to only 42 animals. The situation is dire and recent steps by the Obama administration should help, but the program needs more changes. One of the most important things the government can do is to update the species Recovery Plan. The current document that guides wolf management was written in 1982, more than 15 years before any reintroduced wolf felt native soil between its toes. We didn’t know the first thing about wild Mexican wolves 28 years ago. A new plan is desperately needed. This is the Mexican wolf’s second chance in this world. It won’t get a third if we fail to act now. For every generation that passes, the captive population gets more inbred and has more genetic defects that may hamper any future reintroduction efforts. We need wolves on the ground—hunting, breeding and obeying the rules that nature intended. For information about what you can do to help Mexican wolves, or to find out more about the animals themselves, see Lobos of the Southwest and become a fan of Mexican Gray Wolves on Facebook. Additional resources:
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Written by Andre Oosterman , March 13, 2010
Hi Rich, thanks for your well-researched and heart-felt article. One questions remains, however. You write: " At least 10 years old, M619 is one of, if not the oldest wild-born Mexican wolf still roaming the forest. It would be a tremendous indignity for this senior citizen to be "managed" in his final days." A friend of mine, who grew up in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where wild tigers are still common, once told me that villagers are most afraid of old tigers, because these are too slow to catch "regular" prey and therefore turn to (even slower) humans in order to survive. The San Carlos Apaches may not be right to require any wolf on the reservation to be removed, but aren't they right about old-timers such as M619, because old wolves are inherently more dangerous to humans than younger ones?
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Written by Rich Bard , March 13, 2010
Hi Andre,
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The analogy of tigers to wolves is an interesting one, but people really are in no danger from wolves. Of course there are people who would disagree, but the facts show that the risk of wolf attack, even for people who live in communities surrounded by wolf country, is far, far down on the list of things to worry about. With that said, the concern could be that older wolves, especially those without a pack to help them hunt, may be more likely to prey on cattle. So far, I don't think any research has shown this to be the case. The San Carlos Apaches are cattlemen and their opposition to wolf recovery is based only on financial concerns. However, without going into too much detail here, their cattle husbandry techniques do nothing to protect their cows from any predators (mountain lions and bears share their range as well as wolves), drought, injury, escape to the nearby Wilderness areas, etc. Once again, a realistic assessment of the impact of wolves on the cattle herd would show it to be pretty small compared with these other risks.
Written by Abe Gilbert , March 15, 2010
These are difficult times for those of us who still wish to roam free. I feel that hunters like these wolves will be needed greatly in the near future to clean up after the remains of other species who are not faring so well with new climate concerns and lack of water in the summer months. I will join the Facebook group and do what I can, although it will horrify many on my friends list. Thank you for giving us your special insight and inside information into this seldom reported area of conservation. You are a true optimist Rich and optimists are an endangered species all their own.
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Most of the ragged survivors of our crusade to exterminate Mexican wolves—a slaughter that ended less than 40 years ago—have been living in cages all these long years. Generation after generation of lobos have paced their fence lines, scanning the air with their powerful noses, searching for a trace of elk or deer when there is only processed zoo food and people with hot dogs and French fries. How long can a species hold on to its wild edge, when every year only those most adapted to life in a cage manage to breed? 
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