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Government Kills Another Endangered Mexican Wolf at the Behest of the Livestock Industry

For immediate release April 28, 2025

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Government Kills Another Endangered Mexican Wolf at the Behest of the Livestock Industry

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Just days after admitting that it killed the wrong Mexican wolf in Arizona, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it also killed the breeding male of the Hail Canyon pack in New Mexico. This second “lethal removal” apparently killed the intended target: a five-year old wild born wolf (AM2764) named Viento who was the breeding male of a family of wolves that includes at least three young wolves and potentially a litter of new puppies this spring.

“The killing of Viento is, quite frankly, infuriating and counter-productive. As partners in the Mexican Wolf SAFE Program, we’re trusting the federal government with the well-being of wolves that are released from our care. Viento was the adoptive father of Mexican gray wolf Slides, born at the Wolf Conservation Center in 2023 and placed into the Hail Canyon pack that year through a pup foster,” said Regan Downey, the director of education at the Wolf Conservation Center. “How does the killing of his father ensure the well-being of Slides? His own survival just became that much more challenging, and begs the question – who is protecting these animals?”

“This is such a critical time of year for a wolf family – to kill the breeding male of a pack is a huge setback,” said Chris Smith, wildlife program director at WildEarth Guardians. “Livestock owners grazing on public lands should be coexisting with native wildlife, not clamoring for blood.”

“Between the recent killing of a pregnant female wolf and now the killing of a breeding male just before his pups are born, it’s clear that federal wildlife agencies have completely lost their way and wolves are paying the ultimate price,” said Brian Nowicki, Southwest deputy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Our public lands should be places where endangered animals can recover and thrive, not be killed left and right.”

“Last week, on Earth Day, instead of celebrating the amazing comeback of these imperiled wolves, the federal government was out killing them,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project. “These removals are done to support the public lands livestock grazing industry, where a handful of ranchers get a sweetheart deal and heavy subsidies to degrade our national forests for private profit – including the destruction of keystone species who are vital to a healthy ecosystem.” 

Data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife indicates that livestock losses to Mexican wolves are trending downward even as the population of wolves slowly grows. Despite empirical evidence to the contrary, however, the Catron County Board of Commissioners has recently claimed that livestock losses are increasing.

“Viento was named by a student who was inspired by the possibility of once again hearing the howl of the Mexican wolf rising above the wind in their ancestral home in the southwest,” said Erin Hunt, managing director of Lobos of the Southwest. “This student was excited by wolves running like the wind through our forests, their song rising as they call to each other. Viento’s family will never hear him call out to them again. What could we possibly say to his pack to justify this? What can we possibly say to the young people who are so invested in the return of wolves to southwestern landscapes? There are no words.”

“Viento was not a number or a nuisance — he was a sentient, social being whose life mattered,” said Claire Musser, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. “Killing him at the start of the denning season shatters his family and undermines the very future we claim to be protecting. True recovery demands more than counting wolves; it requires honoring their lives and fostering a landscape where they, and we, can co-thrive.”

The Hail Canyon pack occurs on Gila National Forest lands near Reserve, New Mexico.

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