286 Wolves, One Unhinged Congressman—and a Government Ready to Finish the Job

A new bill from Rep. Paul Gosar aims to gut Mexican gray wolf protections—not because recovery is complete, but to appease the livestock industry’s war on native wildlife.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz) and ten other anti-wolf members of Congress have just introduced a bill to remove the Mexican gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act. Not because the species has recovered. Not because the science supports delisting. Simply because the livestock lobby can’t handle coexisting with native carnivores on public lands.

Let’s be clear about what’s at stake: There are only 286 Mexican gray wolves in the wild in the United States. Just about 15 more across the border in Mexico.

They are one of the most rare and most genetically imperiled subspecies of wolves in the world. Every reputable conservation biologist agrees: this population is still in deep trouble. Having been brought back from the edge of extinction through an intensive captive breeding program and re-released into their U.S. habitats in 1998, the recovering Mexican wolf program is an example of just how important Endangered Species Act protection – and federal funding for recovery – is.

Gosar doesn’t care about science or biodiversity or ecological integrity. He’s more interested in manufacturing a culture war. In a press release that reads more like a rancher grievance list than public policy, Gosar claims that wolves are threatening “the livelihoods and safety of families in rural Arizona and New Mexico,” because wolves occasionally prey on the domestic animals that are ubiquitous on southwest public lands. His solution? Strip federal protections and let states like Arizona take over “management”—which, in practice, means giving state agencies the authority to trap, shoot, and remove wolves until they’re back on the brink of extinction.

Gosar introduced his bill just weeks after using a congressional hearing to rant about the wolves’ alleged threat to livestock—never mind that public-lands ranchers are already compensated with taxpayer dollars for predator losses and these folks are already running their livestock operations at a deficit to public coffers. It’s never enough until we return to the “good old days” where native wildlife are exterminated and the land is safe for untended livestock.

This isn’t a new tactic, even from Gosar. He’s tried to demonize wolves for years. And unfortunately, it's not the only legislative assault on the Endangered Species Act.

The Senate’s final 2025 budget reconciliation bill released on July 1 includes provisions that would cut recovery‑program funding—an outcome experts say would cripple ESA implementation. These are the very funds that keep recovery plans active, field teams deployed, and science-based decision-making possible. With no funding, the law becomes a hollow shell.

Gosar’s bill is part of a broader, industry-backed campaign to dismantle the Endangered Species Act piece by piece. Wolves are just the current target. Grizzlies are next. So are protections for native fish, rare birds, and entire ecosystems that stand in the way of fossil fuel extraction, overgrazing, and private profit.

Mexican gray wolves deserve more than extinction-by-politics. We’ve spent decades defending their right to exist—not just as symbols, but as keystone carnivores essential to restoring balance in the Southwest.

We won’t let this bill—or this budget, or this regulatory sleight of hand—go unchallenged. And neither should you.

Greta Anderson is the Deputy Director for Western Watersheds Project. greta@westernwatersheds.org