Wayward wolf gets help in finding mate after odyssey across two US states | Endangered species

A match made in the wilderness of New Mexico?

An endangered Mexican wolf captured last weekend after wandering hundreds of miles Arizona to New Mexico is now gearing up for a dating game of sorts as part of federal resettlement efforts.

But only time will tell if the US Fish and Game Service can succeed in finding a suitable partner for the female wolf number F2754. The newly captured wolf will be offered a choice between two brothers who are also housed at the federal government’s wolf management facility in central New Mexico.

“We wanted to bring her in earlier so she would have a longer chance to bond with a mate and then hopefully breed successfully,” said agency spokeswoman Aislinn Maestas. “We are going to watch her and wait to see. Hopefully she does show interest in one or the other.”

It could be late February or early March before biologists know if their efforts are successful.

It has been 25 years since Mexican gray wolves were first reintroduced to the southwestern US. Through captive breeding and targeted releases, wildlife managers have been able to build up the population of what is the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America.

Despite attacks and starts, numbers have been trending upward, with last year being the most Mexican gray wolves documented in Arizona and New Mexico since the program began.

Federal and state wildlife managers tracked the lone female wolf for months, waiting for an opportunity to recapture her. Her journey began in the mountains of southeastern Arizona and crossed the dusty high desert of central New Mexico before reaching the edge of the Valles Caldera National Reserve.

She spent weeks moving between the reservation and the San Pedro Mountains. After showing no signs of returning to the wolf recovery area, officials decided to capture her before the start of the breeding season.

Their event came Saturday near the rural community of Coyote, New Mexico. A helicopter crew working with the New Mexico Game and Fish Department shot her with a tranquilizer dart and then readied her for the trip south to the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility.

It was about the well-being of the wolf, said Brady McGee, the Mexican wolf recovery coordinator.

“Distribution opportunities like this are often looking for a partner. “Since there are no other known wolves in the area, she was unlikely to be successful and was at risk of being mistaken for a coyote and shot,” he said in a statement.

Officials said the goal is for mating efforts to release only puppies in the spring and more wolves to boost the wild population.

The recovery area spanning Arizona and New Mexico is currently home to more than 240 of the endangered raptors. There is also a small population in Mexico.

Environmentalists have pushed federal managers to let the solo female wolf be, noting that previous efforts to relocate her were unsuccessful after her first attempt to head north last winter. They also pointed out that the wolf’s movements were evidence that the recovery limits were insufficient to meet the needs of the growing population.

“I think what we can say is that we know that wolves are driven to disperse as a way to mate with unrelated wolves. In the case of Mexican wolves, it’s increasingly difficult to obtain those unrelated mates because the level of inbreeding in the population and the close bond of Arizona and New Mexico where wolves are allowed to be,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watershed Project.

Ranchers in New Mexico and Arizona have long complained that wolves are responsible for dozens of livestock deaths each year and remain concerned about any expansion of the wolves’ range. Rural residents in Colorado are joining them as officials plan to release gray wolves there in the coming weeks.