A Week of Firsts for Mexican Gray Wolves

The past week was one of many firsts for the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program. Interagency Team members worked intensely to plan and coordinate the successful capture and transport of two wolf packs, first by helicopter and finally by mule, into remote areas of the Apache National Forest in Arizona. Biologists transferred both packs, consisting of adults and pups, into experimental soft mesh pens in the forest and were prepared to provide supplemental food and water for about one week before releasing them. The wolves found a way out of the pen by the next day, a result that was not unexpected by the biologists. "The primary purpose of these soft mesh pens is to cause the wolves to stay together following their release. That seems to have been accomplished," said David Parsons, Wolf Project Leader. There are now four packs of Mexican gray wolves totaling at least 19 animals, free in the Apache National Forest. That number includes nine pups born this spring. The birth of pups by the two pairs that were free-ranging during the breeding season has been neither confirmed nor ruled out.

On Friday, May 21, the Gavilan Pack was relocated from their pen near Coalson Peak in Arizonas Apache National Forest to a new site four to five miles to the northwest. They escaped from the pen in the early hours of last Saturday, but monitoring indicates they continue to remain in the vicinity of the pen and supplemental food. The Gavilan alpha male #183 was born at the Alameda Park Zoo located in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The alpha female #168 gave birth to five healthy pups in the Coalson Pen on approximately April 8. She was born at Wild Canid Survival and Research Center in Eureka, Missouri. A yearling male born to the pair in the spring of 1998 at Ladder Ranch in New Mexico remains with the pack.

Early Saturday morning, May 22, a capture team met at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their purpose was the safe capture and transport of the newly named Mule Pack to an awaiting helicopter in Alpine, Arizona. Moving swiftly and quietly the team captured three male pups and one female pup and then the adult pair. The animals were then weighed and given a thorough veterinary examination. The adults were radio collared and ear tagged, before being placed in kennels for the three-hour drive to Alpine and the awaiting helicopter. In Alpine the adults and pups were transferred from their kennels and placed in specially designed panniers for the transport into roadless back country on mules. High winds on Saturday hampered the helicopter transport of the Mule Pack, but at 7:13 on Sunday morning the pack was airlifted successfully to the awaiting pack mules near their new home in the Blue Range Primitive Area. The trip by mule pack to the pen was trouble-free. "The success of the mule packing operation is very encouraging and opens up new opportunities for releases of wolves in remote areas," said Val Asher, Wolf Biologist for Arizona Game and Fish Department. Pen tenders reported the family reunited once released from the panniers. The pack remains close to the pen where there is supplemental food and water. The alpha male # 190 was born at the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center, Eureka, Missouri, and the alpha female #189 was born at Alameda Park Zoo, Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Wolf Biologist Wendy Brown said, "Restoration of a species is one of the most gratifying and important of conservation efforts. The success of this particular effort required the skill and cooperation of many different agencies, individuals, and volunteers -- including the mules! "

The Mexican gray wolf is the most endangered subspecies of gray wolf in North America. The spring pup counts of 21 born at Sevilleta and in the Apache National Forest, and six additional litters born at other captive breeding facilities throughout the United States help insure the future of the recovery program.

Program partners are the U.S. Department of the Interiors Fish and Wildlife Service,U.S. Department of Agricultures Forest Service and Wildlife Services, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the New Mexico Game and Fish Department, and the Defenders of Wildlife.