ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered; nonessential, experimental population

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: Endangered 1976; nonessential, experimental population 1998

RECOVERY PLAN: 1982

CRITICAL HABITAT: Not required for species listed prior to 1978

RANGE: Currently limited to the Gila Headwaters ecosystem in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico

THREATS: Federal predator control, poaching, and trapping

POPULATION TREND: By the 1930s, Mexican gray wolves had been eliminated from the United States. Reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf began in 1998, yet by 2007, the federal government had killed or permanently removed 54 wolves. The estimated number of adult gray wolves remaining in the wild as of the end of 2008 was 52, with only two breeding pairs roaming free. Approximately 300 wolves survive in specialized facilities, zoos, and museums as part of a captive-breeding program.