Recently, several additional New Mexico counties, including Socorro and Sierra, have joined Catron County in declaring a “state of emergency” over the Mexican gray wolf population. Several other counties, including Chaves, Cibola, Luna, and Grant, have passed their own resolutions in support of those counties.

We urge Governor Lujan Grisham to reject the Catron County disaster declaration and instead support science-based wolf management that protects both wildlife and rural communities.

These emergency declarations mischaracterize the current situation and threaten to undermine the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program through defunding and premature delisting.

This approach would reverse decades of careful conservation work and risk the future of North America’s rarest gray wolf subspecies.

Today, there are approximately 280 Mexican Gray wolves that have made a miraculous recovery since they were first reintroduced in 1998. Yet, loss of their protected status under the Endangered Species Act could conceivably lead to their extinction. Make no mistake—the real emergency is the alarming increase in anti-wolf sentiment while the population remains remarkably tenuous.

All New Mexicans who care about wolves and wild nature must speak up against this.

Ask Governor Lujan Grisham not to sign the Catron County disaster declaration. The Governor should support continued funding and legal protections for Mexican gray wolves, the rarest gray wolf subspecies in North America. Save disaster recovery funding for real disasters, not myths and misinformation. Updated 07.25.25