Mexican Gray Wolf Population only Grew by 10 In 1 Year

​worldanimalnews.com/endangered-mexican-gray-wolf-numbers-grew-by-only-10-last-year-bringing-the-population-to-just-under-200-recovery-is-being-hampered-by-hunting-disease/

Mexican gray wolf populations grew by only 10 individuals in the past year despite efforts to rehabilitate the species. There are only approximately 200 or fewer Mexican Gray Wolves remaining in the wild and perils such as genetic mismanagement, illegal hunting, and disease, are hampering their rehabilitation. If we do not learn quickly why our efforts to rehabilitate the species are at such a stand still, Mexican Gray Wolves will undoubtedly go extinct in the wild.

Wolves are under constant threat to their survival and conservation efforts have been ongoing for decades. Unfortunately, despite all of the efforts to rehabilitate the species, they are under constant threat of extinction. Illegal hunting and poaching are putting a serious damper on efforts and the US Fish & Wildlife Services has been tasked with trying to come up with a plan to address the illegal killings. While illegal hunting continues, it is livestock farmers who are also responsible for their role in the decline of wolves. Livestock farmers will kill wolves if they disrupt livestock operations which as we know, is like dangling a carrot in the face of a horse and then getting angry when the horse eats it.

We need to address the accessibility of livestock because that seems to be a constant theme when it comes to predatory animals being slaughtered to near extinction. Livestock are easy targets for hungry predators and if their enclosures do not do enough to prevent these killings, it's the predatory animals that suffer. How can we continue to justify slaughtering predators and do absolutely nothing to address the lackluster enclosures that make livestock so accessible? It's quite obvious that this is a persistent issue so there's obviously room for improvements and I believe that's one of the first things the US Fish & Wildlife Services should do. Address the accessibility of livestock in preventing continued conflicts with predators.

When it comes to conservation, it's tireless and takes years upon years to rehabilitate a species, even minutely. Considering the amount of resources and time that go into conservation, I just don't see enough action in areas where it's blaring obvious what needs to be done. Livestock conflicts are a persistent issue; if it's not wolves, it's bobcats or mountain lions. The fact is, we're offering up easy access to food for desperate predators and then shooting them dead for doing what is inherent to them. Livestock farmers should be tasked with improving their enclosures and making them predator proof, even being inspected afterwards to determine whether enough was done. That should be step number one.

Look, wolves all over our planet are in serious peril. There are fewer than 200 Mexican Gray Wolves and fewer than 20 Red Wolves. Our efforts will be in vain if we do not speed up this process and tackle the obvious problems that are contributing to their decline. 

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