Wolves in New Mexico

New Mexico and Arizona are home to the Mexican gray wolf ("lobo"), the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Once found throughout New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Mexico, the Mexican gray wolf was wiped out in the U.S. by the late 1970s. As of March 2024, at least 257 Mexican gray wolves are living in the mountains of central Arizona and New Mexico. Their path to recovery remains fragile due to critically low population sizes, genetic diversity concerns, government-sponsored predator control for the livestock industry, and poaching. Fortunately, New Mexico provides additional protections under the Wildlife Conservation Act. Thank you New Mexicans! You play a crucial role in the survival and recovery of wolves in your state and nationwide.

What's at Stake

Gray wolves at risk

Today, gray wolves survive in just 10% of their historical range in the lower 48 states. The Endangered Species Act offers them the strongest legal protection, prohibiting hunting and trapping. However, wolves in the Northern Rockies have already lost these federal safeguards, and new legislation threatens others.

Legislative threats

Don’t be deceived by the name. The Trust the Science Act (H.R. 764/S. 1895) aims to strip federal protections from gray wolves across the U.S. and prevent judicial review, meaning courts would have no power to overturn it. Having narrowly passed the House, it’s now under Senate consideration. Additionally, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 (H.R. 8998), currently circulating in Congress, includes a “rider” in Section 130 to remove federal protections from gray wolves in the lower 48 states.

Deadly consequences

Without federal protections, hundreds of wolves are slaughtered each year in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming under extreme anti-wolf laws passed in these states. In Wisconsin, when federal protections were briefly lifted, trophy hunters killed 218 wolves in less than three days—more than double the allotted quota. If more wolves lose protections, we could see similar tragedies occur across the country.

Beyond gray wolves

Like gray wolves, the lobos in New Mexico and Arizona are facing similar legislative threats, while red wolves in North Carolina are clinging perilously close to extinction in the wild. The urgency to protect America's wolves could not be greater.

Make your vote count

Wolves can't vote, but you can. Your vote is incredibly powerful in shaping their future. Your vote can help save their lives.

Elect to Protect

No matter where you live, your voice and your vote are essential to protecting wolves. Take action now—before it’s too late.

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