Feds 'mistakenly' kill collared and possibly pregnant Mexican gray wolf in Arizona

Yahoo

23-04-2025

A federal wildlife agency 'mistakenly' killed an endangered and possibly pregnant breeding-age Mexican gray wolf in Greenlee County, according to a memo from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The killing occurred after officials issued a lethal removal order for an uncollared wolf from the Bear Canyon wolf pack on April 7 in response to a series of attacks on livestock grazing on public land.
The order, signed by Brady McGee, the Mexican wolf coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, authorized the USDA's Wildlife Services to kill one uncollared wolf from the pack, but preserve the breeding female wolf, known as AF1823, who was wearing a nonfunctioning radio collar.
'It is our intent not to remove the breeding female (wearing a nonfunctioning radio collar) who will likely whelp a new litter of pups soon,' stated the order.
Despite this, the female wolf was killed on April 14, according to a two-sentence outcome memo:
"During efforts to fulfill this removal order, AF1823 was mistakenly lethally removed on April 14, 2025. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined to close this removal order."
USDA Wildlife Services did not immediately respond to questions regarding the incident. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials referred questions to the original order and declined to answer whether the incident was under investigation.
The killing of the seven-year-old female wolf has outraged advocacy groups, who are calling for accountability for the agencies that manage the endangered wolves.
'You can't just make a mistake when you're dealing with an endangered species. I mean, these are the people we trust to be managing our wolves,' said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project, a wildlife advocacy group. 'They were taking a really big chance in authorizing this removal, and this is the worst possible outcome for this family of wolves.'
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Wolves in the Bear Canyon pack are members of the experimental, nonessential population of endangered Mexican gray wolves living in Arizona and New Mexico. While it is illegal for the public to kill a Mexican wolf, their designation as nonessential authorizes government agencies to trap, harass and kill 'problem' wolves that prey on livestock.
The Bear Canyon pack consists of seven wolves living in rugged, remote terrain in Greenlee County. Since 2024, the wolves have been suspected and confirmed to have preyed on livestock grazing on public land in the area, including four confirmed depredation incidents in 2025.
According to the removal order, wildlife managers and ranchers had taken preventative measures to deter the wolves. These measures included hazing activities and establishing alternative food caches to lure the wolves away from livestock, which proved ineffective and unsustainable.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife authorized the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services personnel to conduct the killing of a single uncollared wolf to manage the conflict situation, but noted specifically that the collared, alpha members of the pack should not be targeted.
After the killing of the collared female wolf on April 14, U.S. Fish and Wildlife closed the removal order.
'We don't think that lethal control should be ordered for depredations taking place on public lands, because public lands are wildlife habitat. Wildlife acting like wild animals should be expected,' said Anderson.
'You can't expect wild animals not to take advantage of easy prey in their habitat," Anderson said. "Punishing them for eating the food that's readily available is fundamentally unfair, both to the individual wolves but also to the American public that wants to see wolves recovered.'
It is unclear whether other management actions, like nonlethal capture or relocation, were considered when making this decision, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife did not respond to questions from The Republic.
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The Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, is a smaller and genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf that has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1976, following the near eradication of the species for livestock predator control. According to a 2024 population survey, at least 286 wolves were living in Arizona and New Mexico.
The existing population of Mexican wolves is all descended from seven surviving wolves used in a binational captive breeding program in the 1980s and 1990s. The small genetic pool makes the wolves vulnerable to issues caused by inbreeding, and highlights the importance of preserving breeding adult wolves to increase genetic diversity, advocates say.
The killed female wolf AF1823, named Asiza by schoolchildren in Arizona, was 7 years old and considered the matriarch of the Bear Canyon Pack. According to wildlife advocates, the death could upend the highly social and interdependent structure of the wolf pack.
'The killing of Asiza is extremely upsetting, both for her family and for lobo supporters across the country,' said Regan Downey, Wolf Conservation Center director of education, in a news release. 'Her death endangers the Bear Canyon pack's survival; research shows that killing a breeding female can destabilize the pack and increase the likelihood of future conflicts.'
As wolf advocacy groups call for transparency and accountability from the federal agencies, the government has not provided any details surrounding the incident outside of the outcome memo posted publicly online.
'The killing of this breeding female is tragic news for the recovery of Mexican wolves,' said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a news release.
'While the agencies claim that killing this female was a mistake, they're staying silent on the details as to how such an egregious error was made and how they'll ensure mistakes like this won't be repeated," Zaccardi said. "We need to know why this killing occurred and how they'll make sure it never happens again.'
John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to [e-mail].
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Federal agency kills collared and possibly pregnant Mexican gray wolf