PHOENIX (CN) - For three decades, the Mexican gray wolf has slowly progressed from the brink of extinction to nearing the criteria to be downlisted to "threatened." Now, a resolution in the Arizona Legislature seeks to cut that progress short and demote the state's less than 150 wolves to protect its more than 980,000 cattle. 

House Concurrent Resolution 2011, which on Tuesday received a "do pass" recommendation from the Arizona Senate's Committee on Natural Resources, urges Congress to remove the Mexican wolf from the endangered species list and defund the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan to turn management of the species over to state and local agencies. 

The resolution also calls to "allow ranchers to protect their private property on all lands," and compensate ranchers for cattle lost to Mexican wolves. 

As of February 2025, there are at least 319 Mexican wolves in Southwest United States - 143 live in Arizona. A smaller population of about 45 live in Mexico. 

Before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers downgrading the species to "threatened," the U.S. population of wolves must remain at or above 320 for four consecutive years. 

Republican lawmakers disagree with that scientific barometer.

"The program has been successful," bill sponsor Lupe Diaz told the committee. "The ranchers and farmers, they're losing a lot of cattle over the wolves that have been coming in after their calves."

In 2024, Fish and Wildlife investigators confirmed 24 cattle killed by Mexican wolves in Arizona, and 80 killed in New Mexico. There are nearly 1.5 million cattle in New Mexico. 

Diaz, a Republican from Benson, said the numbers are likely underreported, because the kills are difficult to verify. He said the economic losses to Arizona ranchers are in the "hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Sandy Bahr, director of the nonprofit Sierra Club, called it premature to delist the wolves.

"We have an animal that was nearly eliminated from the face of the earth, and only through the endangered species act still exists," she said. "But it's hardly recovered."

In addition to higher numbers, Bahr said the wolves must establish three distinct populations in the wild. 

"Right now we only have one," she said. "If something happened to that population, we would be right back to having these wolves significantly on the edge of extinction."

Some experts say the wolves are also in trouble due to their lack of genetic diversity, having descended from just seven remaining wolves in the 1880s before they and their offspring were reintroduced starting in 1998.

Bahr said delisting requires a "science-based approach." State Senator David Gowan, a Republican from Sierra Vista, shared a different perspective. 

"Science-based would tell you that the animals were placed in a region where our ranchers are," he said. "We say that it was all over Arizona, but I don't ever see them releasing the animals in Tucson or Phoenix. Of course you're gonna laugh at that, because you think that's the bulk of our population. Well, it's not funny to our ranchers out there who grow our food."

Mexican wolves existed in Arizona for thousands of years before Europeans imported cattle and are endangered now after government-led extermination campaigns aimed at protecting the cattle industry. 

All three Democrats on the committee voted against the resolution.

"The Mexican gray wolf remains one of the most endangered mammals in North America," state Senator Rosanna Gabaldon of Sahuarita  said. "While the population has grown, that progress reflects decades of coordinated conservation work between states, tribes and federal agencies."

State Senator Theresa Hatathalie of the Navajo Nation said she sympathizes with ranchers in her district whose cattle are killed by wolves, but is also proud that some tribes have been able to welcome back the animals they had lived alongside for millenia. 

State Senator Priya Sundareshan of Tucson said the decision should be left up to the experts in the federal agencies. 

"None of us on this committee and certainly no one in Congress has the expertise or ability to determine what is scientifically evidence-based for that listing decision," she said. 

The resolution passed 5-3. If signed by the governor, the resolution would hold no binding power but simply urge Congress to take action.

Earlier in the hearing, the committee voted 5-3 to approve House Bill 2156, which appropriates $250,000 to the state livestock compensation fund used to pay ranchers whose animals are killed by predators. 

"If we don't take care of our ranchers, they won't be here," said Republican state Senator Janae Shamp, who voted to support both bills. "For anyone who likes to eat beef like me, you have to support this." 

Sydney Tool, a citizen of Tucson who says she's studied cattle grazing for decades, said the money should instead be used to increase protections for the Mexican wolf. 

Both bills will next be voted on by the full state Senate.

Source: Courthouse News Service