The History of the Mexican Gray Wolf

The Gray Wolves, ancestors to the Mexican Gray Wolves, entered North America by crossing the Bering Strait land bridge between Alaska and Siberia. From there, the wolves spread throughout Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The Gray Wolves also populated the Balkans, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, Asia, and Eurasia. The only regions not inhabited by Gray Wolves were the most arid deserts and tropical forests.

Different species evolved depending on the location where a group of wolves stayed. For example, the Mexican Gray Wolf evolved from a group of wolves that claimed territory in the southwestern United States and Mexico. The original range of the Mexican Gray wolf was the southwestern part of the U. S. through Mexico. These wolves inhabited the Southwest since the Pleistocene Epoch. According to fossils recovered in Arizona and New Mexico, about 1,500 animals thrived in this area.

The Mexican Gray Wolves were one of the largest populations of animals prior to human persecution. American settlers hunted the animals almost to extinction. The animals were trapped using snares and steel leg-hold traps. People amused themselves by denning, shooting, and poisoning the wolves. Sodium cyanide was used directly against the wolves while strychnine, arsenic, and compound 1080 were placed in carcasses and other bait. Public bounties were paid for each dead wolf.

An unrecorded number of wolves were killed between 1890-1915. By the 20th century, the Mexican Gray Wolves were practically eliminated from the Mid-West and the Western United States. Between 1915-1925, 900 Mexican Gray wolves in New Mexico and Arizona were reported dead. By 1942, fewer than 50 Mexican Gray Wolves existed in Chihuahua, Durango, and Mexico. It was listed an endangered species in 1976, but in 1978 no more than 50 breeding pairs existed in the wild. Recent surveys have not confirmed the wolves' presence in Mexico. The Mexican Gray Wolves have been extinct in the Southwest since the 1950s. This makes the Mexican Gray Wolf the most endangered species of Gray Wolf in North America.