Center for Biological Diversity

Media Advisory, March 4, 2025

Contact:

Aaron Bloom, Earthjustice, (917) 410-8727, [email protected]
Andrea Zaccardi, Center for Biological Diversity, (303) 854-7748, [email protected]
Craig Miller, Defenders of Wildlife, (520) 404-9836, [email protected]

Federal Court to Hear Arguments on Mexican Wolf Management Rule

TUCSON, Ariz.— Attorneys for conservation advocates will present oral arguments on Wednesday, March 5, in defense of Mexican gray wolves to Judge Scott Rash at the U.S. Federal District Court of Arizona.

In July 2022 the groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for approving a Mexican wolf management rule that threatens to harm the species’ conservation by confining their range and failing to improve the low genetic diversity of the small population. The groups are asking the court to send the rule back to the Service for revision.

What: Oral arguments challenging the Mexican wolf 10(j) management rule.

When: 10 a.m. MST, Wednesday, March 5.

Where: U.S. District Court of Arizona – Tucson Division, Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse, 405 West Congress Street, Tucson, AZ 85701.

Who: Attorneys with Earthjustice and other members of the conservation groups will be available for interviews after the hearing.

Background

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its predecessor agency exterminated gray wolves from the western United States between 1915 and 1945 on behalf of the livestock industry. The 1973 enactment of the Endangered Species Act led to the live capture of surviving Mexican gray wolves and ultimately the breeding of seven animals, some of whose descendants were reintroduced to the wild in the United States in 1998 and Mexico in 2011.

Since then, the Service has failed to adequately correct mismanagement that previous court decisions have identified as contributing to a genetic crisis in the Mexican gray wolf population, threatening their long-term survival.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Defenders of Wildlife is a national, member-based conservation organization dedicated to protecting all native plants and wildlife in their natural communities.

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change.

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