Lawsuit Filed for Failure to Protect Mexican Gray Wolf

A coalition of environmentalists filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for its failure to protect the Mexican gray wolf, one of the most endangered species in North America, over recent decades, demanding that a better recovery plan be instilled, according to reports.

Currently, only 83 Mexican gray wolves and five breeding pairs exist in the wild. According to a new analysis released by the Center for Biological Diversity, the original 1982 recovery plan for the species is incomplete, and a newly drafted proposal from 2012 by the FWS was abandoned, leaving this wolf hanging out to dry.

Thus, the three nonprofit agencies Defenders of Wildlife, Wolf Conservation Center, and Endangered Wolf Center, along with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and retired federal wolf biologist David R. Parsons, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Mexican gray wolf. Their idea for a new and improved recovery plan would essentially be a blueprint for rebuilding the wolf population to sustainable levels, and is legally required under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

"The opportunity to recover the Mexican gray wolf is slipping away due to genetic problems and inadequate management policies, but the government still hasn't created the basic recovery blueprint that the law requires," Earthjustice attorney Timothy Preso, who is representing the groups, said in a press release. "We are asking a judge to order federal officials to develop a scientifically-grounded recovery plan before it is too late."

The Issues

Although their numbers have grown slowly, they remain the most endangered subspecies of wolf in the world. The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) - the "lobo" of Southwestern lore - once numbered in the thousands, but populations drastically declined in the United States by the mid-1980s due to hunting, trapping and poisoning.

After being wiped out and with only a few animals remaining in Mexico (they typically range throughout the southwestern United States as well), Mexican gray wolves were bred in captivity and reintroduced in the wild in Arizona back in 1998. However, though conservationists have still fallen short of their goal to restore at least 100 wolves to the wild by 2006, Defenders of Wildlife notes, the reintroduction program is experiencing delays.

According to The Associated Press, politics, illegal killings, and other factors have hampered wolf recovery efforts. Disputes over management of the predators have also spurred numerous legal actions by environmentalists and ranchers.

Though there are only 83 of these wolves in the wild, some ranchers believe that is still too many, for fear that they will prey on their valuable cattle.

The Deadly Wait

Due to these issues, the CBD believes over the last 38 years FWS officials have been "dragging their feet on completing a recovery plan simply to appease state leaders and special interest groups opposed to sharing the landscape with wolves," notes CBD wolf advocate Michael Robinson in the press release. And this delay could be deadly for the Mexican gray wolf.

What's more, aside from legal removals due to conflicts with livestock, the current wolf population suffers from serious inbreeding, which makes them unable to adapt to environmental changes and the animals more vulnerable to disease.

Despite the lawsuit and series of complaints, the Service states on its website that recovery plans are "guidance documents, not regulatory documents."

But, as argued by Virginia Busch, executive director of the Endangered Wolf Center, and other conservationists behind the lawsuit, "Only by developing and implementing a comprehensive and legally compliant recovery plan reflecting the best available scientific information can Fish and Wildlife Service secure the future of the Mexican wolf, and establish management sufficient to restore this irreplaceable part of our wild natural heritage to the American landscape."