Mexican Gray Wolf and the Wallow Fire

Wild Turkeys in Wallow Fire Smoke

June 16.

Wallow fire is at 18% containment as of last night. Let’s hope the firefighters keep gaining on it. I was thinking about the deer and elk in the fire area. Then I realized that the fire has burned through at least 3 denning areas of the Mexican Grey Wolf. Each had pups. No one knows if they – or the adults – survived yet. Some radio collars are still working – so some adults did survive. But with only 50 or so of the wolves alive in the wild, even 1 death is tragic. The dens were in timber country where the fire was hot. Hopefully the pups made it through the smoke and flames. Losing 3 sets of wild born wolf pups would be a big setback for the wolf recovery plan.

Right now all recovery and reintroduction of the Mexican Gray Wolf will be stopped until an assessment of damage and available prey can be made. That could take a long time. A lot of hard work and dedication went into the wolf program. I hope the fire hasn’t erased years of effort.