Albuquerque, N.M. • State and federal wildlife managers are investigating the death of three endangered Mexican gray wolves found last month in Arizona.
Officials with the wolf recovery team did not release any details about the circumstances of the animals' deaths or the specific areas where they were found. One of the wolves was a female that belonged to the Saffel Pack. The other two were single females.
Officials also reported that wolves were found to be responsible for seven livestock kills in January. Two nuisance incidents also were investigated.
A subspecies of the Western gray wolf, Mexican wolves have faced a difficult road to recovery that has been complicated by politics and conflicts with livestock since reintroduction efforts began more than two decades ago in Arizona and New Mexico.
[Read more: Utah’s Hogle Zoo is sending its lone gray wolf to live with a pack at a sanctuary]
Survey results released last year indicated there were at least 131 wolves in the wild in the two states at the end of 2018. The population count for 2019 is expected to be released in the coming weeks.