SANTA FE, NM — An unusually restless Mexican gray wolf nicknamed Asha will be held captive with a potential mate until the next breeding season in hopes of helping the species recover, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday.
Asha captured the public imagination after she was found wandering far beyond the borders established along the Arizona-New Mexico border for the management of the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. She has been captured north of Interstate 40 twice, most recently in December 2023 near Coyote, New Mexico and the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Aislinn Maestas said the wolf, known to wildlife biologists as F2754, has shown signs of bonding and breeding activity with a captive-born male, but so far has not produced pups. The hope is that the pair and pups could be released, depending on the outcome of a breeding season from February to May 2025.
“Our hope is that they will now spend enough time together” to have offspring, Maestas said.
Some environmentalists argue that there is more to be gained by releasing Asha and her mate.
“We should seize the opportunity to make new scientific discoveries by letting wolves teach us, rather than continuing to disrupt and control their lives,” said Claire Musser, executive director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, which advocates for public support to restore wolf populations.
Before Asha was captured last year, ventured into the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. At the time, nearly two dozen conservation groups sent a letter to state and federal officials saying the wolf’s movements were evidence that recovery limits were not meeting the needs of the growing population.
The Fish and Wildlife Service noted that the wolf, born in 2021, had entered an area where there were no other wolves to breed with.
Ranchers in New Mexico and Arizona have long complained that wolves are responsible for dozens of livestock deaths each year and are concerned about expanding wolf habitat.