Mexican wolf

And so the reason that I wanted to pursue it is like, okay, how big an issue is it really? And is it increasing? Like what's going on with that particular sort of like part of the story? But that's what's new is basically Trump gave the Interior Department 90 days, I believe it was 90 days, to look at ways of either downlisting or even delisting wolves across the range.

So every population of gray wolves from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains in the northwest to the Mexican wolves of the southwest.

And then further, looking at ways to either mitigate the impact of depredating wolves or to come up with a compensation fund that would compensate ranchers for losses to wolves.

Yeah, well, let's start in the...

problem no we're talking about a wholly different wolf this is the mexican wolf um right as distinct from the the gray wolf I think one reason we haven't heard much about it is it's been quietly successful for years now, mostly Arizona Game and Fish, but also into New Mexico.

And then with assistance and partnership with the feds, there's been this pretty quiet but pretty steady progression of wolf restoration efforts.

And some of it has been trap and relocate Mexican wolves in Mexico into suitable habitat in the Southwest.

Some of it has been this like propagation sort of foster pup mechanism that was, has been different from the wolf restoration, you know, with like bringing Canada wolves into Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies was a wildly different way of like restoring wolf populations.

But will this make social media a safer place?

But first, President Trump has signed an executive order that could lead to Mexican gray wolves being removed from the endangered species list.

The order instructs the Interior Secretary to decide within 90 days if the species has recovered enough to be delisted.

The wolves were reintroduced to Arizona and New Mexico in the late 90s and have been controversial.

Ranchers say the wolves kill their cattle and have applauded the executive order.

Conservationists, meanwhile, argue there are only a little more than 300 Mexican gray wolves and that they continue to need protection.

Cindy Toole is the Arizona-New Mexico Director of Western Watersheds Project, a nonprofit environmental conservation group, and she is with me now to talk more about this.

Cindy, good morning.

For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Murphy Woodhouse.

President Trump signed an executive order on Friday that could lead the Mexican gray wolf to be removed from the endangered species list.

Connor Greenwald reports.

The wolves nearly went extinct before they were reintroduced to Arizona and New Mexico in 1998.

There isn't yet enough genetic diversity among the wolves to warrant delisting, and the population is not large enough to be removed.

There are a lot of animals we wouldn't have if it weren't for the Endangered Species Act.

Of course, some of them have actually recovered, but the Mexican gray wolf just isn't there yet.

Trump's order directs the Secretary of the Interior to determine within 90 days whether the Mexican gray wolf should be delisted or downgraded under the Endangered Species Act.