Wolf birth stirs hope among conservationists
Eliza Hughes, TheNewsMexico.com – 6/13/2002
The recent birth of five Mexican gray wolves has conservationists cheering
and livestock-owners reaching for their guns.
The five pups, two males and three females, were born in Mexico City’s
Chapultepec Zoo on April 18, marking the first birth of a Mexican gray
wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) in the country in 28 years.
The nation’s only native wolf species was almost exterminated in the first
half of the 20th century as ranchers – often with assistance from
government agencies – hunted and killed them to stop the wolves from
attacking their livestock.
In addition, increasing development in the northern border region and the
United States Southwest, where they also roamed, helped push them to
near-extinction.
“The wolves were forced off their land,” said Marina Hurtado, a biology
student who has spent four months at the zoo observing the pregnancy and
birth of the wolves. “Man displaces the wolves and then gets mad when they
come back in search of something to eat.”
Today, only 36 Mexican gray wolves exist in the wild – all in Arizona’s
Blue Range Primitive Area – where researchers monitor their progress.
While ranchers may feel relieved by the disappearance of a livestock
killer, scientists are fighting to save the wolf from what was once an
almost certain fate.
The Mexico City zoo is participating in a conservation effort begun by
Mexico and the U.S. in 1982, which has increased the number of gray wolves
in the world to 240.
Although the animals are thriving in captivity, their carnivorous diet
will continue to make them a threat to northern and U.S. ranchers, who are
suffering from an almost decade-long drought that has killed off much of
their livestock.
“Livestock owners on both sides of the border continue to hunt the Mexican
gray wolf,” said Dr. Juan Arturo Rivera, conservation program head at the
Chupultepec Zoo. “Man must understand the wolves are part of the food
chain and if we eradicate them, we are disrupting that chain. “They are
necessary in order to control the proliferation of other species.”
For conservationists, the ultimate goal is reintroducing the species to
the wild. “If that is not possible, all of our efforts are in vain,” said
Rivera.
But biology student Hurtardo, who spends up to five hours a day recording
the wolves’ behavior, sees a long road ahead.
“Many people are quite ignorant and disrespectful when it comes to
animals, I see it every day in the zoo,” she said. “Man believes he is
above animals, but we are one in the same.”