Wandering Mexican gray wolf “Asha” denied freedom, as authorities decide to keep her in captivity
The young female wolf has become well-known for her restless roaming, after she traveled from Arizona into New Mexico.
A young female Mexican gray wolf named Asha will not be released back into the wild this year, authorities have announced, after she was captured because she was repeatedly journeying into northern New Mexico.
Restless Asha, known legally as wolf #2754, has been captured multiple times by government officials because she has wandered outside of the boundaries of the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area (“MWEPA”).
Conservation groups have said her case shows that such artificial boundaries are not suitable for roaming species like wolves and that Asha should be free to explore.
However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has captured her each time she has wandered outside of the designated area. The last incident occurred in December last year, where Asha was taken from near the Valles Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico.
Since then, wildlife officials have kept the young female wolf in a facility near Socorro.
Now, the Service has announced that Asha will not be released back into the wild and will instead be kept in captivity alongside a potential mate for another breeding season.
Mexican gray wolf Asha. Credit: USFWS
The plan aims for the pair to produce offspring so that the two wolves can be eventually released with pups. This is in line with previous communications from the Service that stated Asha’s release is approved only if she successfully produced pups.
Conservation and wildlife groups have criticized the move.
“This wolf, and others like her, are showing us where the wolves want to be. The human-created maps, with imaginary lines on the ground where wolves are not allowed, ignores what science tells us — that the southern Rocky Mountains are home to the Mexican gray wolf,” said Cyndi Tuell, Western Watersheds Project’s Arizona and New Mexico director. “Making Asha’s freedom dependent on her ability to breed represents an outdated and unscientific philosophy held by wildlife managers that needs to change.”
Others pointed out that Asha has become a pawn in a political battle over wolf recovery in the west.
“Keeping [Asha and her mate] behind wire mesh for another year shows how politics are prioritized over wolf releases, as well as the livestock industry’s success at blocking wolves north of Interstate 40”, said Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Both have contributed to alarming declines in the genetic diversity of Mexican wolves since the early days of reintroduction.”
Wolf recovery initiatives have often been opposed by the livestock industry which says wolf ranges should be limited because the animals can kill livestock.
Managing such politics has therefore led to what conservation groups call “arbitrary” map lines, including the I-40 boundary beyond which wolves cannot go, and is described as the result of state pressure to restrict the recovery of Mexican wolves to a limited portion of the Southwest.
The boundary is facing difficulties, as Asha is not alone in her desire to roam. Several other wolves have repeatedly dispersed north of I-40, including two wolves currently outside of the boundary that authorities are actively trying to capture.
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