PHOENIX (CN) – For three decades, the Mexican gray wolf has slowly progressed from the brink of extinction to the criteria to be relegated to the “threatened” list. Now, a resolution in the Arizona Legislature seeks to curtail that progress and reduce the state’s 150 wolves to protect its more than 980,000 livestock.
House Concurrent Resolution 2011which received a “pass” recommendation from the Arizona Senate Committee on Natural Resources on Tuesday, is asking Congress to delist the Mexican wolf from the endangered species list and pay Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan to transfer species management to state and local agencies.
The resolution also seeks to “allow ranchers to protect their private property on all lands” and compensate ranchers for livestock lost to Mexican wolves.
As of February 2025, there are at least 319 Mexican wolves in the Southwestern United States – 143 live in Arizona. A smaller population of about 45 lives in Mexico.
Before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will consider downgrading the species to “threatened,” the U.S. wolf population must remain at or above 320 for four consecutive years.
Republican lawmakers disagree with that scientific barometer.
“The program has been successful,” bill sponsor Lupe Diaz told the committee. “Herdsmen and farmers, they’re losing a lot of livestock to wolves coming after their calves.”
In 2024, fish and wildlife investigators confirmed 24 cattle killed by Mexican wolves in Arizona and 80 killed in New Mexico. There are about 1.5 million cattle in New Mexico.
Diaz, a Republican from Benson, said the numbers are likely underreported because homicides are difficult to verify. He said the economic losses to Arizona farmers are in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Sandy Bahr, director of the nonprofit Sierra Club, called the delisting of wolves premature.
“We have an animal that was almost wiped off the face of the earth, and only through the endangered species act does it still exist,” she said. “But it’s hardly recovered.”
In addition to higher numbers, Bahr said wolves should establish three distinct populations in the wild.
“For now we only have one,” she said. “If something were to happen to that population, we would go right back to these wolves being on the brink of extinction.”
Some experts say wolves are in trouble because of them, too lack of genetic diversityhaving descended from only seven wolves left in the 1880s before they and their descendants were reintroduced starting in 1998.
Bahr said delisting requires a “science-based approach.” State Sen. David Gowan, a Republican from Sierra Vista, shared a different perspective.
“Based on the science it would tell you that the animals were settled in a region where our farmers are,” he said. “We say it was all over Arizona, but I never see them release the animals in Tucson or Phoenix. Of course you’re going to laugh at that, because you think that’s the bulk of our population. Well, it’s not funny to our farmers over there who grow our food.”
Mexican wolves existed in Arizona for thousands of years before Europeans imported livestock and are now endangered after government-led extermination campaigns aimed at protecting the livestock industry.
All three Democrats on the committee voted against the resolution.
“The Mexican gray wolf remains one of the most endangered mammals in North America,” said state Sen. Rosanna Gabaldón of Sahuarita. “While the population has grown, this progress reflects decades of coordinated conservation work among states, tribes and federal agencies.”
State Sen. Theresa Hatathalie of the Navajo Nation said she sympathizes with ranchers in her district whose livestock are killed by wolves, but is also proud that some tribes have been able to welcome back the animals they’ve lived with for millennia.
State Sen. Priya Sundareshan of Tucson said the decision should be left to experts at federal agencies.
“None of us on this committee and certainly no one in Congress has the expertise or the ability to determine what is scientifically evidence-based for that listing decision,” she said.
The resolution passed 5-3. If signed by the governor, the resolution would not be binding, but would simply prompt Congress to take action.
Earlier in the hearing, the committee voted 5-3 to approve House Bill 2156, which appropriates $250,000 for the state livestock compensation fund used to pay ranchers whose animals are killed by predators.
“If we don’t take care of our farmers, they won’t be here,” said Republican state Sen. Janae Shamp, who voted to support both bills. “For anyone who likes to eat beef like me, you have to support this.”
Sydney Tool, a Tucson resident who says she has studied livestock grazing for decades, said the money should be used to increase protections for the Mexican wolf.
Both bills will then be voted on by the full state Senate.
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