For Immediate Release, August 8, 2024
Contact:
Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org
Claire Musser, Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, (928) 202-1325, claire@gcwolfrecovery.org
Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project, (520) 623-1878, greta@westernwatersheds.org
Wolf Supporters to Rally Friday at Arizona Game Commission Meeting in Flagstaff
Residents Oppose Removing Mexican Wolf Family Near Grand Canyon
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.— Wolf supporters will rally Friday morning before the Arizona Game and Fish Commission’s regular meeting in Flagstaff to show their support for endangered Mexican gray wolves and urge the commission to reverse a plan to remove a wolf family from an area near Grand Canyon National Park.
“Mexican wolves can’t read maps drawn by powerful ranching interests to limit their movements and they shouldn’t be confined by arbitrary political boundaries,” said Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Kendrick Peak pack is living precisely where scientists said these wolves can survive and thrive.”
“Let us come together and use our voice to benefit the wolves,” said Claire Musser, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. “We need to stop calling wolves voiceless. Hope and the Kendrick Peak pack are showing us what they need, they have a voice, we just need to start listening!”
“It is within the power of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to let these wolves stay north of Interstate 40, and for the agency to recognize the Grand Canyon ecoregion as an appropriate place to recover the lobo,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director for Western Watersheds Project. “Wolves belong here, and it’s high time that humans stop trying to limit their ranges for the sake of political convenience.”
What: Rally supporting endangered Mexican gray wolves and opposing removal of a wolf family living near the Grand Canyon.
When: Friday, Aug. 9, at 7 a.m. Commission meeting begins at 8 a.m.
Where: Arizona Game and Fish Commission meeting, Little America Hotel, 2515 E. Butler Ave., Flagstaff. The commission meeting can be viewed online.
Who: Local residents, including some in costume, will urge the commission to order the Arizona Game and Fish Department to rescind its plan to capture and relocate the nearby Kendrick Peak pack. Wolf supporters will also speak during the meeting’s public comment period.
Background
The Kendrick Peak pack is the first known family of Mexican wolves to live north of Interstate 40, which is the official boundary beyond which Mexican wolves aren’t supposed to venture.
Eight Mexican wolves are known to have traveled north of the boundary before the Kendrick Peak pack, and some — such as Annubis, near Flagstaff, and Asha, in northern New Mexico — were repeatedly removed and then traveled back north after their release.
The Kendrick Peak pack includes a female who Arizona students named “Hope” after she was captured, radio-collared and released last month. Agency biologists are tracking her locations to enable the planned capture of the entire wolf family.
Under decades of pressure from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the livestock industry, the Fish and Wildlife Service arbitrarily limited the range of Mexican wolves to south of I-40.
Independent scientists, including those appointed to the Service’s own Mexican wolf recovery team, have said recovery will not be possible without a population of wolves in both the Grand Canyon ecosystem and the southern Rocky Mountains, which are north of I-40. Despite those scientists, the Service approved a recovery plan that calls for just one population in the United States living south of I-40.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project is dedicated to bringing back wolves to help restore ecological health in the Grand Canyon region.
Western Watersheds Project is a nonprofit conservation organization with a mission to restore western public lands for wildlife.
