”The wall would make a permanent separation between two populations,” Robinson said. “The isolation of populations does tremendous damage.”
Wolf recovery efforts continue
In 1976, the wolves were officially designated as endangered under the new Endangered Species Act, and recovery efforts began. In 1998, they were reintroduced in the United States. Since then, their numbers have risen. State and federal wildlife agencies counted 319 endangered Mexican gray wolves across Arizona and New Mexico this past year. Up from 286 the previous year, it marks a decade of stable recovery.
But in Mexico, there are only about 38, according to Jim deVos, the Mexican wolf coordinator at the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Mexico once accounted for about 90% of the wolves’ historic range, but since the 1970s few wolves have lived there.
In 2011, officials began releasing wolves south of the border in Chihuahua and Sonora. Those efforts weren’t entirely successful, but just this April, in a cross-border collaboration, wildlife agencies transferred two family packs to the Mexican state of Durango.
The border wall, being built across stretches of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, could prevent those populations from mixing, unless wildlife officials step in to move wolves around.
Barring that, the separate populations could inbreed, Robinson said, which would be detrimental to the species as a whole.
“ They’re losing genetic diversity on a year by year basis,” Robinson said, referencing data from federal and state wildlife agencies. ”In terms of isolated populations, they’d have fewer wolves to select from as potential mates.”