Legal battle brewing over location of Mexican wolves in Arizona

FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — Conservation groups are pleading with the state to leave two Mexican gray wolves alone or they’ll sue.

The wolves are currently living north of Interstate 40 past the wolf population line drawn by the state.

Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project, said the wolves have chosen this area for a reason.

“The wolves themselves are showing us what they need and where they want to be. Why not let them go there,” Anderson said.

According to the Endangered Species Coalition, Mexican gray wolves are the most rare breed of wolves.

Anderson said they’ve been working for years to bring the wolves back from the brink of extinction.

“Our work is to bring them back, help them fulfill the ecological role that they are large predators,” she said.

This summer, the Arizona Fish and Game Department captured and collared a wolf they found north of I-40 near the Grand Canyon.

They then released it, hoping the wolf would reconnect with another one spotted in the same area so they can relocate them to their designated habitat south of I-40.

“The one wolf that has a collar on her, her name is Hope,” Anderson said.

Game and Fish has said I-40 is the hard line for the wolves’ population area, so they do not want the animals anywhere north of this.

However, conservation groups, including Anderson, said moving the wolves could violate the Endangered Species Act if the state can’t prove the animals came from the South. So Anderson said they sent the state an intent-to-sue letter.

“A 60-day window that’s required under the Endangered Species Act, and it gives the agencies like two months to tell us why they think they’re not violating the Endangered Species Act or to change their actions before we can sue them,” Anderson said.

She also wants to remind the public it’s against the Act to kill the endangered wolves.

Arizona Game and Fish says it can’t comment further on pending litigation but believes it is fully compliant with the act.

Anderson said they just want to protect the wolves.

“Until they can prove that these wolves are not dispersing, the permit doesn’t apply and it’s plain language, and so they would be violating the Endangered Species Act if they harm or harass these wolves,” she said.

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