For immediate release
Media contacts:
- Claire Musser, Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, (928) 202-1325, claire@gcwolfrecovery.org
- Cyndi Tuell, Western Watersheds Project, (520) 272-2454, cyndi@westernwatersheds.org
- Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club – Grand Canyon Chapter, (602) 999-5790, sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org
- Erin Hunt, Lobos of the Southwest, (928) 421-0187, erin@mexicanwolves.org
July 30, 2024C
Student Group Names Wandering Wolf “Hope”
2021 Flagstaff Council Resolution supported Mexican wolves in northern Arizona
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Arizona students proposed a new name for Mexican gray wolf F2979, calling her “Hope.” She was captured and collared by the Arizona Game and Fish Department earlier this month. The agency intends to use her to locate any packmates north of Interstate 40 and then to send them back into the bounds of the current recovery area. Hope and at least one other wolf have been roaming the lands west of Flagstaff since early June 2024, earning them the moniker of the “Kendrick Peak pack.”
“It’s thrilling to see them flourish in new territories, living as they have for millennia. My excitement continually grows in supporting the wolves” said Dina, a student from BASIS Mesa Charter School. This is the first family of wolves confirmed north of Interstate 40 since Mexican wolves were eradicated by the government in the 1930s.
“We’re so excited about Hope and her family exploring the ideal habitat of the Grand Canyon region,” said Claire Musser, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. “This is exactly what a healthy wolf population should be doing: roaming freely and finding new territories to call their own.”
In 2021, the City of Flagstaff passed a resolution supporting the recovery of Mexican gray wolves in northern Arizona in order to restore the natural balance of the land, and for the economic benefits from wolf related tourism. Scientists have recommended that additional subpopulations be included in the recovery plan for Mexican gray wolves, including the Grand Canyon ecoregion and the southern Rockies of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
“Like Anubis before them, the Kendrick Peak wolves are finding that the habitats of the Grand Canyon ecoregion are a perfectly suitable place to call home,” said Cyndi Tuell, Arizona and New Mexico director of Western Watersheds Project. “The plans to remove them are wholly for the sake of the humans who only want wolves in certain areas of the state to satisfy special interests. This translocation plan has nothing to do with the actual needs of the species.”
“The Kendrick Mountain Wilderness area is ideal for wolves and they should be allowed to stay and thrive – they are a missing piece to this rugged wilderness area,” said Sandy Bahr, director for Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. “Arizona Game and Fish needs to consider the science and recognize the conservation value of these animals in this wildland area, and let them stay! Wolves need wilderness and wilderness needs wolves.”
“Lobos are thinking, feeling beings who form deep bonds with their families, much like us. And just like us, they deserve the freedom to make choices about their own lives, including finding a place to call home,” said Erin Hunt, managing director for Lobos of the Southwest. “Hope and her family are showing us just what Mexican gray wolves need to recover – room to roam and the freedom to make a life for themselves in suitable habitat of their choosing. It’s up to us to honor their choices and let them stay.”
Harming a Mexican wolf is a violation of state law and the Federal Endangered Species Act and can result in criminal penalties of up to $50,000, forfeiture of vehicles and firearms, and/or not more than one year in jail, and/or a civil penalty of up to $25,000. Visitors to wolf habitat are encouraged to learn the differences between coyotes and Mexican wolves.
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