Wolf pups could significantly increase endangered population
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The endangered Mexican gray wolf population could swell by 10 percent this spring, after two wolves in captivity gave birth this weekend, and three more are expecting.
The potential for 26 new pups is a welcome development for those working to preserve the rare wolves at the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center in suburban St. Louis. It’s not such good news for opponents in a long-running fight against the wolves’ reintroduction into the wild.
In the 1970s, the wolves disappeared completely from the U.S., canid center director Susan Lyndaker Lindsey said. Beginning in 1998, Mexican gray wolves were reintroduced in the southwest. There are currently about 60 of the wolves in Arizona and New Mexico, another 200 or so in captivity, Lyndaker Lindsey said.
The research center was founded in 1971 by the late Marlin Perkins, the renowned naturalist and St. Louis native, and has programs to protect other canids, like the endangered red wolf.
The canid center is the world’s largest holder and breeder of Mexican gray wolves. “There’s no institution that’s ever had five pregnant Mexican gray wolves,” said Lyndaker Lindsey.
The three wolves yet to give birth were impregnated with an artificial insemination procedure, and ultrasounds have shown they’re expecting 11 pups total. The center said the non-surgical technique has never before been used successfully in endangered wolves.
Should all the births be successful, “It will add up to more pups than we’ve ever had here,’ Lyndaker Lindsey said.
Staff members are using video monitoring to check in on the pups and two mothers who conceived naturally. One delivered nine or 10 pups Saturday; the other gave birth to six pups on Sunday. The usual litter size is four to six, Lyndaker Lindsey said.
The target of a federal program is to get about 200 Mexican gray wolves back in the wild. But there is strong opposition in the current recovery area, 4.4 million acres of Gila and Apache Sitgreaves national forests and the 1.6 million-acre White Mountain Apache reservation.
The New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau hears weekly from people with concerns and complaints about the wolves.
“As far as we can see, the wolf reintroduction program has been an abject failure,’ spokesman Erik Ness said.
He’s heard from farmers whose cattle were picked off, pet owners who feared a vanished dog or cat was attacked by a wolf and even parents afraid to let their children outside.
A five-year review of the reintroduction program by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and wildlife departments in Arizona and New Mexico found 26 cattle, a horse, two sheep and two dogs were confirmed killed by wolves from the start of reintroduction through 2003.
Ness believes the numbers are much higher, based on the numbers of calls his bureau takes from farmers, ranchers and others.
Lyndaker Lindsey said the Mexican gray wolves help restore a natural balance to the areas where they live in the wild, increase tourism and naturally tend to stay away from people.
Staffers at the canid center were tired after the busy weekend, but thrilled at the sight of the newborn pups, evidence that their work paid off.
“The awe factor is still there,’ she said.