The Mexican wolf, an endangered species that resists disappearing from the territories that once reigned

It’s about Zero extinction a sanctuary in Mexico that is dedicated exclusively to the protection and rehabilitation of this species, which in recent years took a step in its conservation by being in the category “probably extinct in the wild environment” in 1970, to be located in “danger of extinction” since 2019.

Irma Macedo Palacios, director of the sanctuary, says that although this effort was born as a family initiative in 2002, under the figure of Environmental Management Unit (UMA), the initiative has only six months in its new stage after a territorial conflict with the authorities that prevented them from administering this space for years in the municipality of Coatepec Harinas, in the Valley of Mexico.

They are currently in charge of a family of nine wolves, including Naja and Túkari, the reproductive couple, and their two litters: Adara, second female of the group, and their brothers Kelev, Elmac, Yosef, Moro, Moro, Meyotl and Pakal.

Read more: the return of the gray wolf to the Mexican ground could make the rains also return

In addition, they just received Raksha, a dog of less than four years who lost one of its legs, so they will seek to adapt to the conditions of their natural habitat, although I am no longer a candidate for an eventual liberation.

In fact, Macedo Palacios says, until now none of the wolves of this sanctuary is in a position to be reinserted, given the lack of guarantees and resources to follow up on wildlife.

“There is good will on the part of the authorities, but action is needed,” says Macedo Palacios to Your Day. “The program consists of taking care of them to reintroduce them, but with the lack of economic and educational resources we would not know if (after releasing them) they died, they reproduced or if they hunt them.”

Read more: trap cameras capture images of Mexican gray wolf puppies | VIDEO

Mexico and the United States, responsible for keeping it

The Mexican wolf lived from the arid areas of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas in the United States, to the forests and grasslands of the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato, even reaching the Sierra de Oaxaca.

Being a predator, this species is of great importance to regulate dams and to control pests. When hunting species such as White tail, rodent and hareswolves cause movement of herbivorous animals allowing ecosystems vegetation to regenerate. Otherwise, the entire food chain is affected.

However, the wolf was directly affected by human activities, due to the increase in settlements, as well as the Extension of agriculture and livestockso the predator began hunting domestic species, which caused even extermination campaigns that led the species to extinction in wildlife.

This happened From the southern United States to the region of the Transversal Volcanic Sierra, in Mexicoso both countries created the Binational Recovery Program of the species focused on generating a “genetically viable” population. They did so mainly on the work of Mexican and American zoos to achieve their restoration and with the aim of telling a free population of 340 copies in the United States and 200 in Mexico, which is not yet fulfilled.

For Mexican authorities, the releases – since 2011 – have been “successful”, because, between 2014 and 2018, the birth of six litters in free life was recorded. However, from that year there is no update of the state of these specimens.

Until 2020, Chihuahua was the only state where the only wild population of Mexican wolf was recorded in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Until 2017, the population of Mexican wolf outside its natural site was 281 individualsaccording to a report from Mexico to the agreement on biological diversity.

There are currently only 121 wolvesaccording to the Director of the Sanctuary Zero, which is part of the 24 institutions that take care of the species and integrate the Mexico-United States Committee.

A lung sanctuary

Not having a direct support from foundations or governments, the sanctuary of just over 16 hectares survives with the work of Macedo Palacios, along with his sister María Macedo and Veterinarian Herbe Monroy Jacobo. They also have donations and community work, since their objective is also to educate communities about the care of the Mexican wolf and become a research center of the species.

“We do everything as if tomorrow they were going to free the wolves,” says Irma Macedo about the effort to maintain the natural behavior of the species. “We do not interact with them as pets, we do not provide toys designed for dogs and We encourage your search instinct through environmental enrichment. We give them rabbit, we give them trout, things that they can look for in space, ”he adds.

It emphasizes that the sanctuary has the possibility of giving advanced veterinary care and traditional medicine treatments to the wolves that They arrive in vulnerable situation because they can perform daily checks by having a small area.

In the volunteer days, in addition to a contribution, help is requested to create four -meter firewall to prevent damage from forest fires in the area.