Current:Home > reviewsAsha traveled over 100 miles across state lines. Now, the endangered Mexican wolf has a mate. -Ascend Wealth Education
Asha traveled over 100 miles across state lines. Now, the endangered Mexican wolf has a mate.
View
Date:2025-04-17 14:04:02
PHOENIX − After her second foray outside of the endangered Mexican gray wolf repopulation area, Asha, Arizona’s most adventurous wolf, has been captured, placed in captivity and paired with a male wolf.
Also known as Mexican wolf F2754, Asha was captured by the New Mexico Game and Fish Department on Dec. 9 near Coyote, New Mexico. She traveled more than 100 miles from the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population area.
Asha first gained public attention in 2022 when she first wandered past Interstate 40, the northern boundary of the habitat area that includes parts of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in Arizona and the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.
The agency had removed her from the wild and paired her with a male wolf in captivity in January of this year, but after they failed to breed, Asha was released in June.
Prosecutors:Two men charged after 'killing spree' of 3,600 birds, including bald eagles
In October, Asha’s telemetric collar alerted the agencies she had again ventured beyond I-40. Officials monitored her movements, and when she showed no signs of returning to the population area, they used a helicopter to find, capture and transport her to the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility in New Mexico.
Asha has been paired with another male wolf in time for the 2024 breeding season.
“By pairing her with a carefully selected mate in captivity, we are hoping she will breed and have pups this spring,” said Brady McGee, a Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The best outcome for her is to be released back into the wild, where she and her offspring can contribute to Mexican wolf recovery.”
The Arizona and New Mexico Game and Fish Departments and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently marked the 25th anniversary of the first Mexican wolves reintroduced to the wild.
The population is steadily growing, and officials are optimistic the subspecies will be removed from the Endangered Species Act in the coming years.
But wolf experts and activists believe more can be done to save the subspecies, including allowing wolves like Asha to roam past I-40 and into the southern Rockies to create a second population.
“Asha is repeatedly telling us what peer-reviewed, independent science also indicates, that lobos need access to this habitat in the southern Rocky Mountains,” said Chris Smith, a Southwest wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians.
The path to delisting Mexican wolves
Asha was one of about 242 wild Mexican gray wolves in the U.S., according to the 2022 wolf count. Born in the Rocky Prairie pack in Arizona in 2021, she is part of a decadeslong effort to recover Mexican wolves.
Mexican wolves are a subspecies of the North American gray wolf with a historic range in Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico. The subspecies was added to the Endangered Species List in 1976, with just seven known wolves remaining.
Officials created the experimental population area in 1998, releasing the first packs of captive-born wolves.
Although recovery efforts have had mixed results over the years, the agencies have observed a steady population increase more recently, which they attribute to a fostering program.
In captivity, specific wolves are bred to create genetically diverse pups. The pups are then matched with wild dens to be raised by existing wolf packs in the recovery area. This bolsters the population and introduces valuable genes to the packs.
The Mexican wolf population needs to reach 320 wolves between Arizona and New Mexico for officials to consider delisting the subspecies. Once wolves reach this milestone, the population must maintain a 320-wolf average for eight years, with numbers increasing or remaining stable in the final three years.
Officials hope Asha will produce pups in captivity, strengthening the wolf population on the path to delisting the subspecies.
Advocates believe recovery efforts are ‘not enough’
Activists believe Asha’s repeated attempts to venture past the I-40 boundary show that wolves should be allowed to roam and establish multiple subpopulations across the region.
Greta Anderson, a deputy director for the Western Watersheds Project, believes there should be three subpopulations of wolves: in the Grand Canyon region, the southern Rockies and the current experimental population area.
“We hope that Asha’s movements have spoken to policymakers about how arbitrary the boundary is,” she said, “Just simply managing numbers within the small geography of Arizona and New Mexico is not enough.”
Activists believe the agencies should allow Asha to move into the southern Rockies, using her to start a second subpopulation.
Multiple wild subpopulations can protect the longevity of the subspecies.
If fire, drought or disease wipes out one population, the others can ensure the wild population continues. Activists also believe multiple populations create more opportunities for genetic diversification when wolves from different regions mingle.
According to the USFWS, Asha was recaptured for her own protection. Mexican wolves are sometimes mistaken for coyotes and shot, especially in areas outside the population area where people do not expect to see Mexican wolves.
“Our decision to capture F2754 was made out of concern for her safety and well-being,” McGee said. “Dispersal events like this are often in search of a mate. As there are no other known wolves in the area, she was unlikely to be successful.”
Hayleigh Evans covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Send tips or questions tohayleigh.evans@arizonarepublic.com.
Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Sign up for AZ Climate, our weekly environment newsletter, and follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook, X and Instagram.
You can support environmental journalism in Arizona by subscribing to azcentral today.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Fox News sends Tucker Carlson cease-and-desist letter over his new Twitter show
- U.S. Nuclear Fleet’s Dry Docks Threatened by Storms and Rising Seas
- Mpox will not be renewed as a public health emergency next year
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Man dies after eating raw oysters from seafood stand near St. Louis
- Because of Wisconsin's abortion ban, one mother gave up trying for another child
- Fossil Fuel Production Emits More Methane Than Previously Thought, NOAA Says
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- How did COVID warp our sense of time? It's a matter of perception
Ranking
- Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
- Global Warming Is Messing with the Jet Stream. That Means More Extreme Weather.
- Dakota Pipeline Was Approved by Army Corps Over Objections of Three Federal Agencies
- Why Alexis Ohanian Is Convinced He and Pregnant Serena Williams Are Having a Baby Girl
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Despite Electoral Outcomes, Poll Shows Voters Want Clean Economy
- Brittney Griner allegedly harassed at Dallas airport by social media figure and provocateur, WNBA says
- Native American Pipeline Protest Halts Construction in N. Dakota
Recommendation
Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
Kate Middleton Gives Surprise Musical Performance for Eurovision Song Contest
Pipeline Expansion Threatens U.S. Climate Goals, Study Says
Henrietta Lacks' hometown will build statue of her to replace Robert E. Lee monument
Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
Native American Pipeline Protest Halts Construction in N. Dakota
J. Harrison Ghee, Alex Newell become first openly nonbinary Tony winners for acting
Maternal deaths in the U.S. are staggeringly common. Personal nurses could help