Early Wednesday morning, Nov. 12, after alleging that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to develop a comprehensive and viable recovery plan for the endangered Mexican Gray Wolf, a coalition of conservation organizations filed a lawsuit against the government agency seeking a court order demanding that such a plan be developed.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for Arizona, the coalition hopes to recover native population of the Mexican Gray Wolf before the species is pushed past the brink of no return, while the government agency continues to delay any conservative action.
"The opportunity to recover the Mexican Gray Wolf is slipping away due to genetic problems and inadequate management policies" attorney for the Earthjustice organization who is representing the coalition, Timothy Preso says. "But the government still hasn't created the basic recovery blueprint that the law requires. We are asking a judge to order federal officials to develop a scientifically-grounded recovery plan before it is too late."
While the government agency did issue a supposed recovery plan in 1982, the groups maintain that the agency has never founded their plan on any sufficient scientific evidence, and have yet to enforce said plan.
And since then the issues have only become more complicated. In spite of the wolves' numbers dwindling in the wild, anti-wolf activists continue to push for their removal off of the endangered species list. And the conservation advocates claim that the government's long-winded inaction is only further worsening the issue.
"For three decades now, Fish and Wildlife officials have been dragging their feet on completing a recovery plan simply to appease state leaders and special interest groups opposed to sharing the landscape with wolves" spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, Michael Robinson says. "It's shameful that the very people charged with recovering our wildlife have turned their backs on these beautiful creatures, leaving them to battle inbreeding and a host of other threats puching them to the brink of extinction."
But now that litigation has begun, it's almost certain that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will undoubtedly have to act in response, and the species may once again have a chance at survival putting the bleak outlook behind them.
"The recovery plan, is necessary to ensure the wolves' survival, and is legally required under the Endangered Species Act" representatives from the coalition said in a news release distributed Wednesday morning. "With only 83 individuals and five breeding pairs in the wild at last report, Mexican Gray Wolves remain at serious risk of extinction."
