Mexican Wolf Celebrates 10 Years Since Return to the Wild

TUCSON, Ariz., March 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This Saturday, March 29, marks the 10-year anniversary of the day U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released 11 Mexican wolves on public lands in Arizona. The Mexican wolf had been absent from the Southwest for over 50 years because the species had been wiped off of the landscape after a century of poisoning and trapping.

Today, according to FWS' 2007 survey, there are 52 wolves roaming the recovery zone in Arizona and New Mexico. While this number falls far short of what FWS had planned at the outset of this effort, there are still 52 more wolves living wild in the southwest today than there were 10 years ago. This progress has been made thanks to the tireless efforts of federal and state wildlife biologists, wildlife professionals at 44 captive breeding facilities throughout North America, conservation groups and supportive communities throughout the southwest.

Some experts, however, fear that with populations still this low we are perilously close to again losing the Mexican wolf in the wild. Overly aggressive killing and removal of wolves, a lack of a current recovery plan, little to no high-level support for the program in the FWS and the Bush administrations apparent habit of putting politics over science have all been cited as reasons the Mexican wolf is having trouble recovering in the Southwest.

Supporters of wolf recovery say that for this program to make significant progress the killing or permanent removal of any more wolves should be a last resort and FWS needs to be proactive in their approach to preventing conflict rather than reactive.

Experts available for interview on this subject are:

-- Jamie Rappaport Clark - Clark is the current executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and former director of FWS during the Clinton administration. She oversaw the reintroduction and helped carry a wolf crate to the first release site.

-- Dave Parsons - Parsons is a former FWS biologist who was in charge of the Mexican wolf recovery program on the ground in Arizona and New Mexico. He is currently still heavily involved in Mexican wolf conservation through his organization, the Rewilding Institute.

-- Peter Siminski - Peter Siminski leads the Mexican wolf breeding program in North American zoos.

Please contact Cindy Hoffman, (202)772-3255, choffman@defenders.org or Cat Lazaroff, (202-772-3270), clazaroff@defenders.org, for more information or to set up an interview with any of these experts.