Wildlife officials in Arizona say a binational effort has helped send a group of Mexican gray wolves to historic habitat in the Mexican state of Durango.
Mexican gray wolves are one of the smallest wolf species in the world and among the most endangered. The animal’s habitat once spanned the mountains of central Mexico, up to southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico and southwest Texas.
But, their numbers have dwindled — wild populations have disappeared entirely in some parts of Mexico and dipped to single digits in others.
Arizona Game and Fish and the New Mexico Department of Wildlife say they worked with Mexican authorities to send two family groups, or eight wolves total, to the state of Durango. The transfer marks the first time in nearly 50 years that the species will be roaming wild there.
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Researchers from the University of Arizona have created a new tool to learn more about how communication between owners and their pets relates to their well-being.
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The California condor is the largest flying bird in North America and has been protected as an endangered species since the 1960s. And later this month, four of the birds of prey will be released into the wild later this month near the Arizona-Utah border.
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The Department of Interior rolled back habitat protection rules in the Endangered Species Act in July. Arizona and about 20 other states say in new legal filings that the Trump administration acted illegally.
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Conservationists argue there are only a little more than 300 Mexican gray wolves, and they continue to need protection.
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The letter comes after an August roundup in northwest Colorado, where the BLM gathered 894 wild horses. Nine died in the operation.