But livestock groups were disappointed, and the possibility of lawsuits to delay the release date loomed. We'll use any remedy we can to stop it. Cowan said wolves pose a threat to livestock and humans, even though biologists say serious injuries to humans from wolf attacks are rare, if they have ever occurred. Cowan said that because Mexican wolves are endangered, reintroduction means an increased federal government presence in the mountains of the Southwest. Fish and Wildlife Service officials declined to comment.
Conservationists consider Mexican wolf reintroduction extremely important for a number of reasons.
Biologists brought them back from the brink of extinction after capturing what may have been the last survivors. And Mexican wolves are the rarest and most genetically unique subspecies of North American gray wolves. The Mexican wolves are captive animals, unlike higher-profile wolves that were reintroduced at Yellowstone National Park. Those wolves were captured in the wild in Canada and moved. We're having a piece of our environmental heritage returned to us.