For the first time in decades, a radio-collared wolf last week relocated from the United States into Mexico. The Mexican gray wolf, dubbed “Cedar,” crossed through the last stretch of southern New Mexico without a border wall in the remote Bootheel region. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun extending the wall where Cedar crossed, which would block wildlife in the future, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Cedar could be the last lobo to truly roam freely if Trump completes his destructive border wall,” said Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Since time immemorial, wolves effortlessly loped through these borderless desert grasslands with eyes open for deer and jackrabbits and snouts sniffing for other wolves. Sealing off the Bootheel would isolate wolves and other rare mammals like jaguars and ultimately make them all less likely to survive.”
Having wild wolves from the United States and Mexico populations mating together could increase the wolves’ critically low genetic diversity on both sides of the border, notes the Center. The Mexican gray wolf, a gray wolf subspecies, is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Border wall construction has received renewed attention in recent months due to the Trump administration’s plans to construct a border wall through Big Bend National Park in southern Texas. Critics note that a wall in the park would cut off key wildlife corridors, among other impacts.
“It is so exciting to know that Cedar was able to find his way south into Mexico in search of the things he needs to thrive,” said Cyndi Tuell, the Arizona and New Mexico director at Western Watersheds Project. “His adventures highlight the need to maintain connectivity between the United States and Mexican populations of lobos and the need for all of us to push back on the devastating plans of the current administration to cut the North American continent in half with more border walls and barriers.”
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