Factors affecting the recovery of Mexican wolves in the Southwest United States ...

• Main Authors: Breck, Stewart, Davis, Amy, Oakleaf, John, Bergman, David, DeVos, Jim, Greer, J., Pepin, Kim
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2023
• Subjects: illegal killing; management removal; conflict prevention; reintroduction; Mexican wolf; human-carnivore conflict; coexistence; FOS Biological sciences; Fuller; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2280gb5z8; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.2280gb5z8

Recovering and maintaining large carnivore populations is a global conservation challenge that requires better knowledge of the factors affecting their populations, particularly in shared landscapes (i.e., non-protected areas where people occupy and or utilize the land). The Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) is an endangered wolf subspecies being recovered on shared landscapes in the Southwest United States and Mexico. We used data from the U.S. program to model population growth, evaluate the impact of management removal and illegal killing relative to other demographic factors, and test hypotheses about factors influencing rates of management removal and illegal killing. From 1998–2019, the population growth averaged 12% per year. Rates of natural reproduction, illegal killing, and other mortality remained consistent over the 22 years; while releases, translocations, and management removals varied markedly between two time periods, phase 1: 1998–2007 and phase 2: 2008–2019. The number of wolves removed ... : Within the United States, Mexican wolves are being recovered in south-central Arizona and New Mexico; specifics of the area can be found in (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2017). Mexican wolves have been monitored intensively since the beginning of the reintroduction effort in 1998. To aid monitoring, a high percentage of wolves are radio-collared each year (range 38% to 100%, weighted average based on end-of-year population count and collars was 52%). Utilizing radio collars and other methods the Interagency Field Team (i.e., employees from Arizona Game and Fish Department, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, USDA APHIS-Wildlife Services, US Forest Services, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and White Mountain Apache Tribe) then conducts annual population counts and pup counts and monitors continually for mortality events. Initially (1998–2004), the Interagency Field Team determined population estimates and pup counts via howling surveys (Harrington and Mech 1982, Fuller and Sampson 1988), tracks, and ...