Wolf Education & Outreach

Lobo Week 2024 

Celebrate Lobo week with our drawing and coloring pages! 

simply right-click on the image and save it to your device! Be sure to share your artwork with us on social media. 

Free instructions and templates for creating your own wolf art pieces! 

Want to learn more about Asha? Check out our press releases for current Asha news!

Download your Asha wolf outline by right-clicking on the outline below and saving it to your device. 

Right-click on the outline below and save to your device. 

Target audience: Gen Z students between ages17-21. We believe in inclusivity and student groups can be of mixed ages, but we require at least one student to be between ages 17 and 21. 

Aim: Students will create a social action and community media campaigns in response to some of the issues highlighted in the Almost Ancestors film.

Key Dates: 

• Oct 24, 2025: Students submit their summit proposals 
• Nov 15, 2025: Students will present their ideas at a summit to nonprofit leaders in wolf recovery, with opportunities for feedback and networking. 
• Dec 2025 - Mar 2026: Finalist are selected and will be awarded up to $500 to implement their campaigns. 
• Apr 2026: All campaigns will be exhibited in both virtual and in-person exhibitions held across the USA. 

*******Lobo Youth Summit Proposal Form is available here now! ******* 

*******The Lobo Youth Summit Student Guide is available here now! *******

The Lobo Youth Summit is inspired by the award-winning short film Almost Ancestors.

You can watch the film here

The youth are our future, and we want to help them become confident, informed, and assertive advocates for lobos. Gen Z is emerging as the Sustainability Generation. They care about environmental issues and make decisions based on values and principles. This program taps into the innovative spirit of Gen Z, harnessing their ability to access information, collaborate, and mobilize action. The Lobo Youth Summit invites students to become solutionist thinkers, creating well-researched and impactful social action campaigns for lobos. We already received inspiring responses from students like Samantha and Vinesh, showcasing the potential of this program to shape the future of Mexican gray wolf recovery.

"Being an amateur wildlife photographer and loving nature, I know that by restoring the wolf population and making sure they are healthy, we will be able to restore an ecological balance that was taken away; and the opportunities to experience a fuller natural landscape is something I believe is truly impactful to my life." - Vinesh, BASIS Mesa Junior 

"My greatest desire in life is to have a world where everyone can coexist peacefully, both with each other and with nature. As I learn more about the cultural importance of tending to the Earth, I feel more strongly that we all have a responsibility to do so, both to the land and the people living here. That is why the Lobos project matters to me." - Samantha, BASIS Mesa Senior

How it works

With only 286 lobos in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico, lobos need protection. The number one killer of lobos is illegal poaching. We need to expand their boundaries and improve their genetics for the species to survive.

High school and college-age students are invited to create social action and community media campaigns in response to some of the issues highlighted in the Almost Ancestors film. 

They will present their ideas at a student summit where they will have the opportunity for feedback and to reflect on other presentations. Successful students will receive up to $500 to turn their ideas into reality. These campaigns will be part of both a virtual and in-person exhibition.  

If you are a student or teacher interested in taking part, please register for updates here 

The Lobo Youth Summit Creator and Project Leader

The idea of the Lobo Youth Summit was conceived by Claire Musser, Executive Director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, with over 18 years of teaching experience across the UK, the Cayman Islands, and the USA.

Claire Musser is the Executive Director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, and a Master of Arts in Anthrozoology, where her research explored Mexican gray wolf recovery from the perspective of the individual wolves. With over 18 years of teaching experience across the UK, Cayman Islands, and the USA, Claire uses her creativity to blend the arts and sciences. As a transdisciplinary teacher, Claire creates meaningful interactive learning experiences linked to real-world problems. As a certified environmental educator, she has presented at educational conferences and published articles about the benefits of using STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) to create meaningful educational experiences. She encourages her students to be solutionist thinkers, empowering them to take positive actions in conservation. Claire is a lifelong learner and also a Ph.D. student. Her current research focuses on multispecies entanglements, where she combines photography and anthrozoology to explore human-wildlife conflict and coexistence. 

Teacher and Student Testimonials 

"As a university student studying global change and environmental management, I'm extremely excited by this project. As issues like climate change and all the contributing factors that affect these overwhelming threats to our planet and various lives continue to grow in severity, we must look towards future generations to help guide us to better, more innovative solutions if we want to achieve long-lasting environmental change. We can only hope to make a real difference by empowering more students to take our futures into our own hands before it's too late. Often, I think people don't realize how much weight their ideas hold. This project is an amazing opportunity to show youths the real-world impact they can have in becoming a force for positive change. By participating in this project, my generation can take those first steps to discover what they can do to truly change the world as individuals and as part of their community. I'm looking forward to seeing these students' passion and drive to save our planet as they come up with new and innovative initiatives to preserve our world for generations to come!" Sidney, student at the University of Arizona

“Growing up on a family farm has allowed me to see the impact that every animal has had on the local environment. I hope to see the massive positive impact that reintroduction of lobos will have on the environment.” - Jacob, BASIS Mesa Junior

“Since I was raised in a developing community, I have seen firsthand the effect that humans have on the animals in our environment. I have witnessed the local coyote population be pushed out of their native ecosystem and disappear completely. This initiative would allow me to make sure that in the future, more animals will be able to live safely in their home, and it will allow me to develop the leadership skills necessary to do so further into the future.” - Joaquin, BASIS Mesa Junior

“The Lobos Project allows for me and my fellow students to learn how to advocate for the environment and inspire others to work towards a healthier world.” - Bird, BASIS Mesa Sophomore

“I’ve always been fond of wolves. I even took a vertebrate zoology course, which expanded my understanding of them and other animals too, and to see lobos, a species so close to home, be on the verge of extinction, knowing I can make a change, motivates me to take action and help them.” - Ashwyn, BASIS Mesa Junior

"I love the idea, and I think it is something that we, and most high schools, would definitely have a population of students interested in... It would be really cool to have a school put on a film festival-type event/gallery with submissions on display." Science Teacher, Scottsdale Unified School District 

"This is exactly the kinds of activities we envision students getting involved with." Science Teacher, BASIS Charter Schools

Event Sponsorship

We, and the schools, need your support to create a successful Summit.

If you would like to become an event sponsor, please visit the Almost Ancestors website

if you would like to sponsor a student social action project, please register your area of interest here. 

Welcome to Willow's Den
Greetings from our Mexican Gray Wolf Ambassador!

Willow has been an ambassador for their wild Mexican gray wolf relatives with the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project for many years. Willow recently received their name during a naming contest for children from all over the world. The winning name was submitted by a 9-year-old named Sylvia who is in 3rd grade. When asked why she chose this name and why she likes wolves, she stated, "The name will remind people of nature and the importance of wolves to the environment. They are part of a healthy and balanced planet."

Within the Grand Canyon Ecoregion, there is a species of willow named Salix arizonica (Arizona willow). This subalpine species is found near wet meadows, streamsides, and cienegas in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Willows are often overgrazed by ungulates (hooved mammals). Willows benefit from the presence of wolves because wolves help to keep ungulate species moving, therefore they can't overbrowse the willows in sensitive riparian areas.

Mexican gray wolves are one of the rarest and most endangered animals in North America. All Mexican gray wolves alive today are the descendants of just seven individuals that were left by the early 1980s. Thanks to the efforts of captive breeding facilities around the U.S. and Mexico, Mexican gray wolves were saved from extinction and reintroduced back into the wild on March 29, 1998. As of the last U.S. population count at the end of 2021, only 196 Mexican gray wolves exist in Arizona and New Mexico. They still face many threats for their long-term recovery and conservation in the wild, including limited genetic diversity and artificial boundary rules that hinder their ability to disperse into the excellent habitat of the Grand Canyon region.

The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project believes that building public respect and support for Mexican gray wolves throughout their current and future habitat is essential to their successful long-term recovery. You’ll see Willow at community events in Flagstaff and around the Grand Canyon region. As our Mexican gray wolf Ambassador, Willow has an important role in helping us reach hearts and minds about the benefits of restoring wolves in the Grand Canyon region.

Two of Willow's favorite books to recommend for young readers are titled "Wolf Babies!" by award-winning husband-and-wife photography team Lisa and Mike Husar and "Howl: A New Look at the Big Bad Wolf" graphic novel by artist and author Ted Rechlin. Both of these books as well as stickers of adorable Willow are available for sale in our Lobo Marketplace.

Willow, the Wolf ambassador, illustrations were created for the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project by artist Licia Baldini. You can follow Licia's work on social media @artegreen.it. You can create your own recycled 3D craft project of Willow at home by watching the video below and following this link to the Arte Green blog post with templates you can print out. The Arte Green site is in Italian, so be sure to use your browser to translate the directions to English or the language of your choice.

Download and print the templates for 3D Willow craft project in the YouTube video

You may also download coloring sheets of Willow and their family to print out and color at home.
Willow coloring page
Willow howling coloring page
Willow with family coloring page

Follow Willow's adventures on TikTok!

@gcwolfrecovery_

An interactive puppet theater to educate youth about Mexican wolves

Follow the Water is a (prerecorded, because pandemic :/) puppet show about the struggle of wolves to have a place in nature and in our hearts. It's a story to demistify what it means to live a wolf's life and to turn the tables on how humans view wolves' role in the ecosystem. We are taught through many classical stories and metaphors that wolves are dark creatures, that they are to be feared, despised, and sadly, exterminated. This story brings to life the endearing and social qualities of wolves that are not so unlike ourselves and shows how the reintroduction of wolves to wild places may reverse the collapse of other threatened species and even entire ecosystems. Follow the Water begs the question- What happens when we suppress our own wildness? And what is possible if we don't?

The story follows the adventures of a young dispersing wolf and the friendly wild creatures it meets along the way. What do a frog, beaver, elk and condor have in common with a wolf? What happens when wolves and humans collide? Where will this young wolf end up? Woven together through projector shadow puppetry, hand puppets, and marionettes we go into the unknown with the young wolf. Both positive and interactive, this show is sure to get elders and youth singing and clapping along.

Fill out this short request form for free access to the full 27 minute video for playing for your classroom or group.

Adopt A Puppet! Contact us if you would like to contribute to this project.

Special Thanks to the National Wolfwatcher Coalition for an education grant to support our puppet show!

The Wolf and the Elk: A Play by the FunTown Circus Camp in Flagstaff, AZ.
A Play written by Katie Nelson and directed by Katie Nelson and Garrison Garcia. Performed by the participants of the FunTown Circus Camp in at The Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff, AZ on August 7, 2015. Video by N. Renn.

A PSA video created for the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project by students in the Northern Arizona University Environmental Science & Studies Senior Capstone class for their Change the World project, Spring 2015. Created by Alysse Lerager, Rachel Heydorn, Christy Harvey, and Brian Jagiello.

Enjoy this video of a drum circle and chant to raise awareness for Mexican wolves and the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, created, performed, filmed, and edited by the students of the Mount Elden Middle School Animal Society in Flagstaff, AZ, 2013. Thank you MEMS Animal Society for your care for Mexican wolves!

 Read poems submitted by Flagstaff Area Students for our Wild & Scenic Film Festival event in 2012 & 2013:

Wolf Poems 2012

Green Fire Poem

Contact our Education Coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss education programs and ideas for students to learn about wolves at your school.

What is the current status of wolves in the Southwest?

• As of the end of 2021, only about 196 Mexican wolves are living in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico. Approximately 40 or so Mexican wolves are living in the wild in Mexico. They are consider one of the most endangered land mammals in North America and the most endangered subspecies of wolf in the world.
• The Mexican gray wolf (a unique, smaller subspecies of the Northern gray wolf) was first listed as an endangered species in 1976, after decades of human eradication programs extirpated them from their native habitat in the southwestern United States and Mexico.  Only five wolves were left in the wild; some of those individuals along with a few other wolves already in captivity became the seven founders for a captive breeding program to save the species from extinction.  In 1998, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began the reintroduction program for the Mexican wolf in the Southwest.

Are wolves dangerous?

• You are more likely to be killed by a meteorite than a wild wolf. By comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate between 10 to 20 people are killed and 4.7 million attacked each year by domestic dogs.
• Like most wildlife, wolves have an innate fear of humans and tend to keep their distance. Mexican wolves selected for reintroduction are managed with minimal exposure to humans in an environment that maintains natural wolf behaviors.
• Attacks by wolves on humans are extremely rare in North America. However, many wild animals, including deer, squirrels, bears and wolves, are potentially dangerous; people should treat all wild animals with respect. The majority of wolf attacks that have occurred resulted from situations involving rabid wolves; wolves habituated to humans (such as being fed by humans at campgrounds or near settlements); or wolves trying to escape while being attacked. There are no documented accounts of Mexican wolves ever attacking humans.

Are wolves destroying the livestock industry?

• No. Wolves are responsible for less than 1% of livestock losses. The National Agricultural Statistics Service doesn’t even list wolves as a separate predator-loss category, grouping wolves instead under "Other Predators," a category that is only responsible for less than one percent of all losses in New Mexico (0.65%) and Arizona (0.22%).  Most livestock losses are due to disease, accidents, and bad weather.

Are ranchers compensated?

• Yes. Defenders of Wildlife, through the Bailey Family Wildlife Foundation Compensation Trust, has paid over $100,000 to local ranchers in the Southwest to compensate them for the vast majority of wolf-related livestock losses in the region. In 2010, Defenders of Wildlife announced that they are transitioning the Bailey Compensation program to the Mexican wolf/Livestock Coexistence Council program in order to work with ranchers to minimize losses and coexist with wolves before the need for compensation occurs.
• Compensation for livestock losses due to wolves will be continue to be available through The Mexican Wolf/Livestock Coexistence Council, a compensation program which will be operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the states of Arizona and New Mexico under regional stakeholder guidance.  Defenders of Wildlife will make contributions to this fund.

Are wolves having an impact on hunting?

• No. While it is true that wolves prefer regions with high abundances of elk and deer, there is no evidence that wolves deplete game animals over extended periods of time or across large regions. Otherwise, this carnivore and its prey could hardly have achieved long-term coexistence. Wolves prefer to feed on animals like elk and deer and will naturally go after the old, young, weak and sick animals first—not the large, healthy animals that hunters prefer.
• According to the 5 year review of the Mexican wolf reintroduction program released in December 2005 (page ARPCC-8): “To date, no detectable changes to big game populations as a result of wolf reintroduction have occurred in AZ or NM. No changes in the number of permits issued for big game hunts have been made as a result of wolf presence, either.”
• As of 2010, deer and elk hunting opportunities have not been adjusted in Arizona or New Mexico or on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation due to significant wolf impacts because no such impacts have been documented by game management personnel (Senn, Mike and T. Johnson. Memo. November 18, 2010. Commission Briefing on the Department’s Involvement in Mexican Wolf Reintroduction in Arizona and New Mexico and Related Mexican Wolf Recovery and Conservation Issues. Arizona Game and Fish Department.)  

Has the regional economy of the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in AZ and NM been negatively impacted by the reintroduction of the Mexican wolf?

• No. According to the Mexican Wolf Blue Range Reintroduction Project 5-year Review: Socioeconomic Component (Unsworth, R., L. Genova, K., Wallace, and A. Harp.  2005. Report prepared for the Division of Economics, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), economic impacts due to the Mexican wolf reintroduction were not realized.  Wolves are attributed to less than one percent of all livestock deaths and the economic impact to ranchers has been offset by compensation programs and both private and federal money available to fund deterrence projects.  In addition, because there was no reduction in hunter participation, no regional economic impact was observed.  

Can wolves help regional economies?

• Yes. The economic impact of wolf restoration to Yellowstone National Park, for example, generates an additional $35 million per year in revenue for the region surrounding the park, and because those dollars turn over in the local communities, the wolves have created an overall impact of $70 million per year to the local economy (Duffield et al. 2006; Stark 2006). The existence value (or non-consumptive value) the public holds for wolves and the ecosystem service benefits of wolves to restore ecosystem health can also indirectly benefit economic output of the region.

How do wolves benefit the environment?

• Wolves keep forests healthy. Wolves can cause prey animals like elk and deer to be more alert, move more often, and be wary of locations where they may be vulnerable to predation.  In turn, the reduced pressure of herbivore feeding on vegetation in locations with wolves, allows the vegetation to recover – providing habitat to many other species, like song birds, beaver, fish and amphibians in shaded streams.
• Wolves keep elk and deer herds healthy by preying on the weak and sick.
• Wolves have a top-down affect. By reducing coyote numbers, wolves can indirectly benefit raptors, foxes, and weasels as more rodents are available to them as food. Pronghorn antelope have also shown increased survival of fawns and population growth in places where wolves have reduced coyote predation.
• Wolves feed other species. Research in the Northern Rockies has shown that no other predator feeds as many other species as wolves do, as the remaining carcasses often feed many other scavengers (such as foxes, ravens, eagles, jays, bears, and insects).  

Do people in Arizona and New Mexico want wolves?

• Yes. A 2005 poll by Northern Arizona University found that four out of five Arizona residents support letting critically endangered wolves roam over a wider area of the Southwest. Eighty-six percent of those polled said wolves bring a natural balance to the Southwest landscape.  In fact, every poll to date in Arizona and New Mexico has shown that the majority, even in the affected counties, support wolf recovery.  A 2008 Mexican gray wolf recovery program survey found that 77% of Arizona voters either strongly support or support the reintroduction of Mexican wolves in Arizona.  Furthermore, 67% of Arizona voters surveyed support giving wolves more protection under the Endangered Species Act and 62% support allowing wolves to migrate to suitable habitat outside the current reintroduction area (Research & Polling, Inc. 2008.  Wolf Recovery Survey – Arizona.)
• Numerous polls taken throughout the United States consistently demonstrate that more people support wolf recovery than oppose it.  A 2002 quantitative summary of human attitudes towards wolves found that 61 percent of the general population samples had positive attitudes towards wolves.

Why did wolves disappear?

• State and federal bounties (no longer in effect), loss of habitat, poaching, car kills, disease, starvation and parasites have all contributed to their decline. Today, thanks largely to protection provided by the 1973 Endangered Species Act, wolf populations in the wild have returned in areas of the Northern Rockies, upper Midwest, and the Southwest.

What is the difference between "threatened" and "endangered" status of wolves?

• Endangered means that the species is in danger of extinction.  Threatened means that the species is in danger of becoming endangered within the foreseeable future. Under "endangered" status, those wolves confirmed to have killed livestock are required to be relocated to a different area. For wolves, under the "threatened" status, government control trappers can legally euthanize wolves if those animals are confirmed to have killed livestock.
• The Mexican gray wolf had virtually disappeared in the southwestern United States. It was listed as endangered on the federal endangered species list in 1976.

Why do you want to put wolves in the Grand Canyon?

• We don’t actually want to put wolves down in the Grand Canyon, but we do want to help them return to their historic home throughout the Grand Canyon Ecoregion.

Where is the Grand Canyon Ecoregion?

• The Grand Canyon Ecoregion (GCE) extends north from the edge of the Mogollon rim, where it borders the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, all the way to the high plateaus of southern Utah.

Would wolves live everywhere throughout the Ecoregion?

• Scientific studies*, which look at road, prey, and human population densities, as well as water sources and vegetation cover, show us where within the GCE wolves could potentially inhabit.
• *Feasibility Studies
  Carlos Carroll study 2004
  Carlos Carroll study 2006
  Paul Sneed feasibility study 2004
  Kurt Menke feasibility study 2006

Who is involved with the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project?

• Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project (GCWRP) is a non-profit organization that partners with a number of other conservation organizations, zoos, universities, and individuals from throughout the southwest, who have come together to support wolf recovery in the Grand Canyon Ecoregion (GCE), because science tells us it is the LAST BEST PLACE FOR WOLVES IN ARIZONA.

How can I learn more about wolves in this region?

• Check out our History and General Wolf Info page.

Do you have educational materials available for teachers?

• Yes, check out our Teacher Resources page.          

What can I do to help bring wolves back to the Grand Canyon Ecoregion?

• Check out our Take Action page and/or our Action Alerts page often and write letters, sign up to receive wolf updates at the bottom of any page, and/or Donate to the project.

Education & Community Events

Learn from the wolves with our new Learning from Lobos program! Together, we explore the lives of wolves through our inquiry-based program, which uses storytelling to challenge wolf misconceptions and foster compassion. Participants will learn how we teach critical thinking, empathy, and environmental stewardship through interactive STEAM activities, challenging misconceptions and enhancing connections between humans and wildlife.

We have the following programs available: 

•  STEM / STEAM Night activities for K-12 students (available Dec-May)
• In-classroom interactive activities for K-8 grade students (available Feb-May)
• Presentations for K-HS grade students (available Dec-May)
• Lobo Youth Summit for High School and College students (launch spring 2024, summit Fall 2024)
• Presentations for adults and community groups (available all year)
• Tabling at community events  (available all year)

Please fill out the information form, and we will contact your given email to arrange your event.

K-12 Teacher Resources 

1. We have a great 30 minute puppet show video that is perfect for children of all ages. Please visit our Teatro del Lobo Mexicano page to watch a trailer and learn how you can get a download of the full video to show your class.
2. The Arizona Wildlife Education Foundation, in cooperation with Green Fire Productions, is pleased to present the Lords of Nature study guide to use with the Lords of Nature DVD for secondary schools in Arizona. Please check with your local secondary schools in Arizona to see if they have a copy of the DVD available, or visit www.lordsofnature.org to purchase the DVD.
3. Read the essay: Thinking Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold
4. Handout on Endangered Species Act Basics by the US Fish and Wildlife Service
5. Here is a great example of some wolf poems written by Flagstaff area students
   
   

Educating Visitors to the Grand Canyon

With the help of our dedicated volunteers, the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project hosts our “Howl for Wolves” at the Grand Canyon Outreach Campaign each summer in Grand Canyon National Park.

We have successfully educated over 6,000 people from the U.S. and abroad about wolves by tabling at the North and South rims during the months of June, July, and August each year.

Our tabling campaign has generated over 3,000 post cards to Benjamin Tuggle, former Southwest Regional Director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and over 500 hand-written post cards to former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar expressing support for the recovery of wolves to the Grand Canyon region.

This very successful project was developed with three goals in mind:

1. Disseminate information to visitors from the U.S. and abroad about the historical role wolves played in this vicinity, their current status in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, and the potential for future inhabitation throughout this region.

2. Dispel myths about wolves and teach the public about wolf behaviors, pack structure, hunting habits, and the biological niche wolves fill in healthy ecosystems, using the success in Yellowstone to illustrate the way an ecosystem will begin to heal itself when a top predator is reintroduced.

3. Engage with a supportive public, encouraging them to write agency officials to show the widespread support for wolf recovery in the Grand Canyon Ecoregion, as well as build a strong pro-wolf constituency to aid us in our campaign to bring wolves back to the Grand Canyon Ecoregion.

Mexican Wolf Recovery

The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) is the most genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf in North America, as well as the smallest in size. A typical Mexican wolf is about 4.5- 5.5 feet long, from snout to tail, weighs from 50 to 80 pounds, and has a coat with a mix of buff, gray, red and black. Like all wolves, the Mexican wolf communicates using body language, scent marking and vocalization. The main prey for Mexican wolves is elk making up 74% of their diet. Other prey species include white-tailed deer, mule deer, javelina, jack rabbit, cottontail rabbits and smaller mammals.

Commonly called "lobo", the Mexican gray wolf has all but disappeared from its historic range in the southwestern United States and throughout Mexico. Predatory controls from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s made it the rarest gray wolf in North America. By the late 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf had virtually disappeared in the southwestern United States. It was listed as endangered on the federal endangered species list in 1976. An initial recovery objective of a wild population of at least 100 wolves over 5,000 miles of its historical range were approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Direccion General de la Fauna Silvestre in Mexico in a 1982 recovery plan. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers Mexican wolf recovery the highest priority for wolf conservation worldwide.

In 1997, a plan was approved calling for the reintroduction of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico. In March 1998, 11 Mexican gray wolves in three family groups were released into the wilds of the Apache National Forest of southeastern Arizona. Two additional wolves were released later that year. The highlight of the recovery program took place in 1998 when, for the first time in 50 years, a Mexican gray wolf pup was born in the wild.

Illegal shooting still remains the number one killer of wolves along the Arizona-New Mexico border having claimed at least 105 wolves from 1998 - 2019. The US Fish & Wildlife Service revised the rules in January 2015 to allow for broader roaming privileges letting the wolves roam outside of the current Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, which is considered too limited by scientists. This would allow wolves to naturally disperse into other places with suitable habitat throughout the southwest, but they will impose an artificial, and politically-based boundary at Interstate I-40. Wolves are still prohibited from establishing territories in the Grand Canyon region. Conservationists and some ranchers agree that the human-wolf conflict could be eased if wolves weren't so concentrated.

Wolf recovery requires both captive breeding and reintroduction to the wild. Captive management is necessary to increase the population and to minimize the potential for in breeding depression. Reintroduction is essential to ensure that Mexican wolves exist in the wild and persist as more than just a population of zoo wolves. The first captive-reared Mexican wolves were reintroduced into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area beginning in January 1998. Immediately prior to reintroduction, no wild Mexican wolves were thought to remain in the U.S. or Mexico.

Currently, there are about 196 Mexican wolves roaming free in the wild in the U.S. There are also currently about 380 wolves at 60 captive breeding facilities throughout the United States and Mexico.

To read more about the feasibility of wolves in the Grand Canyon Ecoregion, visit this page.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program

Brown, Wendy. El Lobo Returns. International Wolf; 1998. 8(4): 3-7.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Mexican Wolf Recovery Program: Natural History and Recovery Fact Sheet. 1997.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Mexican Wolf Recovery Program: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Reintroduction of Mexican Wolves in the Southwest. 1997.

Wildlife Committee of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Mexican Wolf Coalition. The Mexican Wolf. Albuquerque, NM: Sierra Club; 1993.

(Most of the information above is from The International Wolf Center website www.wolf.org)

Predation is an important ecological process

Aldo Leopold, the father of modern wildlife management and author of A Sand County Almanac, admonished wildlife managers to retain all the pieces of our ecosystems (1953). Using modern analysis, present day ecologists are finding Leopold's directive to be right on the mark. Predation and particularly predation by large carnivores is a necessary component of all healthy ecosystems. Study after study has shown that predator loss leads to biodiversity loss (Diamond 1992). Large predator presence is so important, in fact, that conservation biologist John Terborgh (1988) wrote that "Disrupting the balance by persecuting top carnivores, by hunting out peccaries, pacas, and agoutis, or by fragmenting the landscape into patches too small to maintain the whole interlocking system, could lead to a gradual and perhaps irreversible erosion of diversity at all levels - both plant and animal." Recognition of this importance has prompted leading wildlife professional organizations such as The Wildlife Society and The Society for Conservation Biology, to dedicate special issues of their journals expressly to predator ecology and conservation. Moreover, these scientific societies have placed the restoration of predators high on their list of conservation priorities.

Predation does not always translate into lowered prey numbers

Although many quite vigorously contend that every bite a wolf or other predator takes out of a prey species adds to the other mortality factors already impacting prey populations, predator-prey relationships are rarely that simple (Krebs 1997). For example, in the Adirondacks of New York state, a healthy wolf population is expected to take approximately 4,000 white-tailed deer per year (Hosack 1996). But nearly 18,000 deer die each year of starvation during the harsh winters. Does that mean that after wolf reintroduction mortality is going to jump to 22,000 per year? Probably not. A more likely scenario is that mortality will be compensatory rather than additive and the region would experience an equivalent reduction in winter mortality. In simple terms, wolves would kill the animals that are most likely to die anyway instead of killing an additional amount over the normal winter die off.

In addition, wolves and other predators often have indirect effects on prey population dynamics. In Washington state's Olympic National Park, elk reproduction appears to be dampened because herds are dominated by older females who typically have fewer twins. As wolves preferentially prey on older animals (Pimlott et al. 1969), their future presence could actually increase overall reproduction in the herd. Moreover, reduction in adult ungulate numbers has been shown to increase fawn survival (White and Bartmann 1997).

If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering. --- Aldo Leopold

All predators serve different ecological roles

Some people mistakenly believe that all predators serve the same function. But while coyotes and wolves appear to be very similar, their roles and impacts on ecosystems are very different. Wolves are coursing predators, which means that they tend to chase their prey until they find an animal that is weak. This is very different from the opportunistic way coyotes generally hunt--taking whatever crosses their path. Wolves are also pack hunters who hunt cooperatively and whose populations respond very quickly to increases or decreases in prey availability. Coyotes are more individualistic: hunting in smaller units and responding very quickly to increases in the prey bases and very slowly to decreases due to the adaptability of their hunting skills. As a consequence of their different behaviors, they have different impacts on their prey. Wolves tend to eliminate the old, sick, and genetically inferior animals from populations (Pimlott et al. 1969) and coyotes, like bears and cougars, seem to take animals without regard to their condition (O'Gara et al. 1988).

Likewise, other predators hunt differently and take different animals at different times and under different circumstances. Predator-prey relationships are very complex and have evolved over thousands and thousands of years. As our understanding of the interplay between predators and prey has increased, so has our acknowledgment these relationships should be maintained intact.

Large predators control smaller predators

In 1988, Michael Soulé, founder of The Society for Conservation Biology, documented the phenomenon known as meso-predator release (Soulé et al. 1988). He found that removal of large predators led to a tremendous increase in smaller predators. When wolves are eliminated coyote populations explode. Likewise, when coyotes are removed, foxes prosper. The overall result is an increase in the impact of predators on prey. To illustrate this last point, consider that wolf expert L. David Mech has estimated that each reintroduced wolf pack (10 wolves) in Yellowstone will displace 50 coyotes. When looked at from a hunter's point of view, it seems clear that 1000 pounds of wolves will require less food than 1750 pounds of coyotes. Since the reintroduction in 1995, there are now 80% less coyotes in the Yellowstone region.

Real life examples of meso-predator release abound. When red wolves disappeared from the Southeast coyotes moved in and raccoons increased. In Mississippi this greatly impacted wild turkey reproduction (Miller et al. 1997). Similarly, removal of coyotes in the prairie pothole region benefited fox populations but lowered duck nest success by 15% (Sovada et al. 1995). Fortunately, two recent studies in the Northern Rockies (Arjo et al. 1997 and Crabtree, unpub.) demonstrate that these trends can be reversed. Both studies indicated that recolonizing and reintroduced wolves are displacing and in some instances killing coyotes. The remaining coyotes are relegated to the margins of occupied wolf habitats and are making dietary shifts back to smaller prey items such as rodents.

Armed with a new understanding of the role of predators, public opinion about predators has shifted dramatically (Brunson et al. 1997). Hopefully, that shift can be translated into predator management, conservation and restoration policies that are driven by the best available science and that strive to maintain appropriate predator assemblages in all natural areas across our nation.

Literature Cited

Arjo, W.M., R.R. Ream, and D. Pletscher. 1997. The effects of wolf colonization on coyote behaviors, movements, and food habits in northwestern Montana. *

Brunson, M., T.A. Messmer, D.G. Hewitt, and D. Reiter. 1997. North American public attitudes toward predators, predation, and predator management. *

Diamond, J. 1992. Must we shoot deer to save nature? Natural History. 2-8.

Hosack, D. 1996. Biological potential for eastern timber wolf re-establishment in Adirondack Park. Wolves of America conference Proceedings. 24-30.

Krebs, C.J. 1997. The role of predation theory in wildlife science and management.*

Leopold, A. 1953. A Sand County Almanac with essays on conservation from Round River. New York: Ballantine Books. 190.

Miller, D.A., L. W. Burger, B. D. Leopold, and G.A. Hurst. 1997. Wild turkey hen survival and cause-specific mortality in Central Mississippi. *

O'Gara, B.W. and R.B. Harris. 1988. Age and condition of deer killed by predators and automobiles. 52:316-320.

Pimlott, D.H., J.A. Shannon, and G.B. Kolenosky. 1969. The ecology of the timber wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park. Can. Dep. Lands For. Res. Branch Res. Report. No. 87.

Soulé, M.E., D.T. Bolger, A.C. Alberts, J. Wright, M. Sorice, and S. Hill. 1988. Reconstructed dynamics of rapid extinctions of chaparral-requiring birds in urban habitat islands. Conservation Biology. 2:75-92.

Sovada, M.A., A.B. Sargeant, J.W. Grier. 1995. Differential Effects of Coyotes and Red Foxes on Duck Nest Success. Journal of Wildlife Management. 59:1-9.

Terborgh, J. 1988. The big things that run the world. Conservation Biology. 2:402-403.

White, G.C. and R.M. Bartmann, 1997. Effect of density reduction on overwinter survival of mule deer fawns. *

*Denotes scientific findings presented at the 1997 Annual Meeting of The Wildlife Society in Snowmass, Colorado. September 21-27.

Understanding Wild Wolves

Pack Life

Wolves are highly intelligent. Their acute hearing and exceptional sense of smell - up to 100 times more sensitive than that of humans - make them well-adapted to their surroundings and to finding food. Some researchers estimate that a wolf can run as fast as 40 miles an hour. Wolves have been known to travel 120 miles in a day, but they usually travel an average of 10 to 15 miles a day.  Wolves live, travel, and hunt in packs of four to seven animals, consisting of an alpha, or dominant pair, their pups, and several other subordinate or young animals. The alpha female and male are the pack leaders, tracking and hunting prey, choosing den sites, and establishing the pack's territory. The alpha pair mate in January or February and give birth in spring, after a gestation period of about 65 days. Litters can contain from one to nine pups, but usually consist of around six. Pups have blue eyes at birth and weigh about one pound. Their eyes open when they are about two weeks old, and a week later begin to walk and explore the area around the den. Pups romp and play-fight with each other from a very young age. Scientists think that even these early encounters establish hierarchies that will help determine which members of the litter will grow up to be pack leaders. Wolf pups grow rapidly, reaching 20 pounds at two months and full size in a year. All adults share parental responsibilities for the pups. They feed the pups by regurgitating food for them from the time the pups are about four weeks old until they learn to hunt with the pack.

A wolf pup is the same size as an adult by the time he or she is about a year old, and is able to mate by about two years of age. Pups remain with their parents for at least the first year of their of their lives, while they learn to hunt. During their second year of life, when the parents are raising a new set of pups, young wolves can remain with the pack, or spend periods of time on their own. Frequently, they return in autumn to spend their second winter with the pack. By the time wolves are two years old, however, they leave the pack for good to find mates and territories of their own.

Not all the pups in a litter live to the age of dispersal, of course. Biologists have determined that only one or two of every five pups born live to the age of 10 months, and only about half of those remaining survive to the time when they would leave the pack and find their own mates. Adult wolves on the other hand, have fairly high rates of survival. A seven year old wolf is considered to be pretty old, and a maximum lifespan is about 16 years.

Communication

Wolves communicate through facial expressions and body postures, scent-marking, growls, barks, whimpers and howls. Howling can mean many things: a greeting, a rallying cry to gather the pack together or to get ready for a hunt, an advertisement of their presence to warn other wolves away from their territory, spontaneous play and bonding. There is no evidence, however, that wolves howl at the moon. Pups begin to howl at one month old. The howl of the wolf can be heard for up to six miles. When wolves in a pack communicate with each other, they use their entire bodies: expressions of the eyes and mouth, set of the ears, tail, head, and hackles, and general body posture combine to express excitement, anxiety, aggression, or acquiescence. Wolves also wrestle, rub cheeks and noses, nip, nuzzle, and lick each other. Wolves also leave "messages" for themselves and each other by urinating, defecating, or scratching the ground to leave scent marks. These marks can set the boundaries of territories, record trails, warn off other wolves, or help lone wolves find unoccupied territory. No one knows how wolves get all this information from smelling scent marks, but it is likely that wolves are very good at distinguishing between many similar odors.

Hunting

Wolves prey mainly on large hoofed mammals (known as ungulates) such as deer, elk, moose, caribou, bison, bighorn sheep and muskoxen. They also eat smaller prey such as snowshoe hare, beaver, rabbits, opossums and rodents. Although some wolves occasionally prey on livestock, wild prey are by far their preferred food source.

Wolves have several different methods of hunting, depending on the size of the prey. For little tidbits such as mice, an individual wolf will listen for the squeaking and rustling under the leaves, and then pounce with her front paws when she pinpoints the direction of the sound. They will also eat birds, especially when the birds are molting their feathers and cannot fly well. Individual wolves will also chase hares or follow beaver trails to try to catch the animal away from the water. When hunting deer, pack members frequently all participate in the locating and stalking of prey. After that, anywhere from one to all of the wolves will engage in the chase. Larger prey animals, such as moose, caribou, and elk, don't always run when they encounter a pack of wolves. If the prey animal stands its ground, the wolves will often approach cautiously or abandon their pursuit after a few moments. When a prey animal does flee, the pack of wolves will chase them. Most healthy ungulates are fast enough to outrun a pack of wolves. In fact, fewer than one out of ten attempts to chase moose actually end in a successful kill. If they start to fall behind, the pack will usually give up the chase. If the chosen prey is injured, weakened, or old, however, the wolves can usually catch up with them and attack. Contrary to many popular accounts, wolves rarely, if ever, engage in "hamstringing," or biting the tendons on the back of the leg. This practice is simply too dangerous for the wolf, because to bite the leg, the wolves risk getting kicked in the face by the animal's sharp hooves. Wolves tend to concentrate on the neck, shoulders, and sides instead.

Wolves' digestive systems operate somewhat differently than ours. They are adapted to process huge amounts of food at a time, then eat nothing for three days or more. Biologist David Mech witnessed a pack of 15 wolves kill a 600- pound moose and eat about half of it in an hour and a half, meat, bones, fur and all. This works out to about 20 pounds of food per wolf! Mech estimated that the wolves he witnessed in this encounter were about 85 pounds each, which means they each ate about 23% of their body weight. They don't do much chewing, mostly just tearing chunks off and swallowing them whole. After eating their fill, wolves will either spend a few hours relaxing and digesting, or return to the den to regurgitate food for the pups and other pack members who did not join in the hunt. A wolf's digestive system can handle a large amount of food quickly and efficiently, processing the meat and fat so thoroughly that only bones and fur are excreted in the scat.

Wolves began to take on their distinctively large size about 15 million years ago, and looked like they do today by about 1 million years ago. Every breed of dog that we have today, from poodles to huskies, are descended from a small subspecies of wolf that was domesticated in China about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago.

(The above information is from the Defenders of Wildlife's Wolf Pack Education Curriculum, available on their website at www.defenders.org)