Arizona biologists collected this unidentified canine’s scat and sent it to a lab for DNA analysis. And now the results are in. This is a female Rocky Mountain gray wolf roaming in the area just north of the Grand Canyon. Efforts to capture her and replace her non-functioning radio collar have been unsuccessful but will continue. Meanwhile, naturalists everywhere are celebrating her status as the first wolf in Arizona in more than 70 years. She’s protected under the Endangered Species Act, but that may not keep her safe from ranchers and hunters.
(See earlier story, “Is this a gray wolf?“)
Wonderful!!! Just don’t let Joe Arpaio know. He’ll crawl all the way up there if he has to just so he can deport her.
Probably not worth his time, since she came from way up north (but she might like the pink undies he hands out).
Seriously, I’m afraid certain types are going to be falling all over themselves to be first to shoot her. Or maybe poison her like the wolf that migrated to Colorado a few years ago.
I’m sure there will be plenty that will try.
I hope she stays safe. They are beautiful animals.
I think so too. I just hate that so many people seem to think they are only fit for slaughter.
Meanwhile “hunters” are killing wolves like crazy in Wisconsin. I read the Obama Administration had delisted the wolf from the ES Act? A good friend of mine is a wolf advocate in CA and lives near Yellowstone with her own “pet” wolf. She keeps me informed about the atrocities of humans. Also the wonderful things wolves have done to improve the ecosystem of Yellowstone national Park, via killing deer or was it moose? The bears and birds are making a comeback thinks to the wolves.
My cousin Anne who works in the governor’s office in North Dakota told me they were trying to strengthen the protection for wolves.
The stories out of Arizona keep saying she protected by the ESA but I was under the impression that except for the Yellowstone packs, wolves were delisted via a sneaky rider on a budget bill that was passed in 2011. Perhaps they’ve determined she’s from one of the Yellowstone packs. But the way wolves are again being slaughtered in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, I wouldn’t count on any piece of paper to protect a wolf in the wild.
I’ve written a lot about wolves over the years and don’t think their protection should have been lifted for many more years. They are an integral part of our wildlands and we are nowhere close to restoring them to their previous numbers. If nothing else, we need them to control burgeoning elk herds, as in Rocky Mountain National Park. Of course, that’s exactly what hunters and outfitters object to. They want more elk.
Clarification from the Center for Biological Diversity:
Just horrible and worse than I thought. That it happened now is a very bad sign. I agree with you that they should still be covered by the ESA. Politics are so scrambled now its difficult to know who to blame. What a bunch of cowards. I don’t expect things to get any better any time soon, however. Very bad for the environment.
So many years of hunters, outfitters, and ranchers nearly exterminating wolves. Then many, many years of work by biologists and naturalists to reestablish the species. And then, almost immediately, wolves get delisted and the slaughter begins again. It’s a continuing tragedy, driven by money and greed.
Agree, they are pigs and shooting animals from planes is despicable. I have written to my Senators…both moderate Democrats, about these issues. However we are ignorant Easterners, so what do we know…. Meanwhile deer have run into my daughter’s car twice. My boss said I should. Get a bumper sticker that read..Kill Bambi!
Twice!? Wow, she’s been really unlucky with the deer, hasn’t she? Although very lucky she hasn’t been seriously hurt (at least I hope not).
Good news PT, at least for the moment…
I almost wish it hadn’t been publicized though. No sense painting a big target on her back.