“In April, M1275 was found dead in Arizona.  The incident is under investigation.”  No other details were provided in the Endangered Species Update that arrived in my email inbox late Saturday afternoon.  On April 21st the two-year-old  had been located by radio telemetry, alone but in the Bluestem Pack’s traditional territory with the other pack members (the alpha pair and six pups) nearby.

M1275 was born in the  spring of 2012.  In this video shot in the summer of that same year,  the field team captured the wolf pup, gave him a quick examination, outfitted him with a radio collar and set him free.  A few months later he was named Huckleberry by a kindergartner in Lobos of the Southwest’s  first annual pup naming contest.  He continued to travel with the Bluestem Pack after a new litter of pups was born in 2013 and probably helped to feed and care for them after the alpha male (M806) was illegally shot last summer.

Life in the wild is tough for wolves–92 of them died between 1998 (when they were first released) and 2012 (the most recent year for which numbers are available).  Causes of death have included:  vehicle collision, disease, asphyxiation after a snake bite, and starvation, but by far the largest number of those deaths (47 of the 92) were caused by illegal shootings.  It’s too early to know for sure what happened to M1275, but I’ll keep watching for more details and asking, if they aren’t forthcoming in future updates.

Just over forty years ago President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act  which has enabled the recovery and reintroduction into the wild of the Mexican gray wolf.   It seems fitting to remember his words from that day, “Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.”

May 21, 2014  Note: Yesterday I looked at the most recent telemetry flight locations dated May 12th and was surprised, and hopeful, to see M1275 on the report.  I called the field team’s office in Alpine, Arizona and spoke to Cathy Taylor who researched the discrepancy; she confirmed that M1275 had died and was found on April 21st.  That’s the reason he was reported separate from the pack on the telemetry report referenced in my original post. 

The May 12th telemetry report is incorrect, probably the result of a typographical error.  Taylor was not able to tell me anything more about the cause of death, but did confirm that M1275’s body was shipped to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s forensics laboratory in Ashland, Oregon where a necropsy will be conducted.

It seemed fitting that the governor of Arizona vetoed Senate Bill 1211 last Tuesday, Earth Day.  The bill, which would have allowed ranchers and their employees to kill a wolf on federal land if caught harming or killing livestock, spent the last  three months making its way through committees and both houses of the legislature.  Citizens voiced their opinions, both for and against the proposed legislation, in calls and emails to state lawmakers and in letters to the editors of local newspapers.

Photo Credit: Tuzen via Compfight cc

Mexican gray wolves, reintroduced in Arizona in 1998, are protected by the Endangered Species Act, which also governs the reintroduction program.  In her veto letter Governor Brewer reiterated her support of states’ rights, but also recognized that SB1211 would have conflicted with federal law and called the bill unnecessary.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the battle in the Arizona statehouse,  the Bluestem Pack continued to run and  hunt halfway across the state in the White Mountains.  The most recent monthly report (dated April 24th and prepared by the field team that monitors the wolves’ activity)  located the  alpha pair, a juvenile male, and six pups born in 2013 just south of Big Lake, part of their traditional territory in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.

Big Lake
by P. Nixon

During March the field team also conducted a predation study and found two elk carcasses that had recently been killed and eaten by the pack. In twelve years of living in the wild, the Bluestem Pack has seldom harassed or killed livestock.

One exception occurred last November when the wolves killed a cow.  The incident, reported by a rancher, was investigated by the field team and was assigned, based on radio telemetry reports, to AF1042 (the alpha female) and  m1275 (the two-year-old male).  Although I don’t know the details, the rancher was likely reimbursed for his monetary loss.

The outcome could have been very different had a law like SB1211 been in place at the time of the depredation.  The two wolves, if caught, could have been shot on sight, no questions asked, leaving the pack without their alpha (breeding) female.  Instead, the Bluestem Pack still runs, intact, and has not killed any more livestock.

It is the season for new litters of Mexican wolf pups, typically born in April or May.  Soon we’ll find out if the Bluestem Pack has any new members.

Note:  On April 23, 2014 Governor Brewer also vetoed House Bill 2699, a similar bill to SB1211.