sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Hiking late one afternoon two winters ago I came across an amazing creature. The snow crunched under my feet, the temperature well below freezing, and I could see my breath. At the margins of the Wheeler Peak Wilderness near Taos, on a lightly traveled but plowed road, I turned a corner to see a large, powerful, aware, curious creature trotting toward me a few yards ahead.

At first, I was not sure what I was looking at. Much too large to be a coyote and traveling in the mountains at almost 10,000 feet, it moved comfortably and quickly. It stopped and stared at me in an intense, peer-to-peer moment and our eyes locked. I was struck by its massive chest, large feet and long spindly legs, tongue hanging, head shrouded in a fog of breath.

After a short pause, it quickly turned and trotted away from me, soon out of sight in the failing evening light. I was convinced I had seen a Mexican gray wolf, a lobo. When I got home, cold and elated, my wife was highly skeptical.

Later, through telemetry data provided on a delayed basis by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I was able to confirm that this was indeed Asha (Wolf F2754), the wandering female Mexican gray wolf who twice traveled north of Interstate 40. Part of the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program now in its 18th year, Asha had surprised most observers by traveling hundreds of miles north, apparently in search of a mate.

Asha was recaptured (twice) and placed at the Sevilleta Wolf Management Center. There she finally found her mate, Arcadia, and last year whelped a litter of pups. They were released as the Quartz Pack late last year. Asha had a second litter this spring. Tragically, her mate was found dead in March. Although no information regarding Arcadia鈥檚 death has been released, half the confirmed wolf deaths from 1998-2024 were illegal killings, setting back progress in establishing a genetically healthy, sustainable population.

Wolves have long been recognized for restoring riparian areas near streams and springs by discouraging deer, elk and cattle from congregating and degrading stream banks. Wolves help improve the health of elk populations by culling weak, old and diseased members of the herd and preventing overpopulation of their habitat.

Asha, like many lobos in New Mexico, must be struggling right now. With young pups and no mate, she will be challenged to feed both herself and her offspring. I am rooting for her. Her survival and our renewed commitment to coexisting with wolves makes New Mexico a more vibrant and complete place to live. Encountering Asha, her determined nature and indomitable spirit was wondrous to behold. I hope all of us recognize Asha鈥檚 worth and contribution to our state.

There are several needed improvements to the reintroduction program to help Asha鈥檚 and other wolves鈥� chances of survival and recovery: U.S. Fish and Wildlife should remove the arbitrary I-40 boundary and give lobos access to suitable habitat in northern New Mexico; the service should also release more bonded family packs (like Asha鈥檚 Quartz Pack) of wolves to help improve the dire genetic situation Mexican wolves face; and illegal wolf killings need to be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted 鈥� we don鈥檛 know what happened to Arcadia, but too many wolves are illegally killed in the Southwest. At the same time, cattle ranchers should be compensated fairly and promptly for confirmed wolf kills of cattle and verifiable losses of herd productivity.

Peter Schoenburg, a retired lawyer in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, has been on the board of WildEarth Guardians for 18 years.