Source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times – December 13, 1970 p. 52 & Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 53, No. 2, 27 September 1972, p. 598
Mexican gray wolves held out in Texas until around 1970 when the last two were killed in the Big Bend region of Texas. According to Rick Lobello, the education coordinator at the El Paso Zoo:
…the last confirmed sightings of Mexican wolves in the United States were in 1970 when two wolves were trapped and killed in West Texas. One wolf was documented on the Cathedral Mountain Ranch approximately 17 miles south of Alpine, Texas and 64 miles north of Big Bend National Park (approximately 230 miles southeast of El Paso).
I wasn’t familiar with this story, but I came across an intriguing photo in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. It shows hunter B.E. “Andy” Anderson with a wolf he shot in Alpine in 1970. This looks like the Cathedral Mountain Ranch wolf!
Rick Lobello was kind enough to share some additional information he had on these last two Mexican wolves–an excerpt from the Journal of Mammalogy in September 1972. James Scudday from Sul Ross University was able to collect information on both wolves. They were young males and could possibly have been litter mates.
Interestingly enough, Cathedral Mountain Ranch is currently for sale. If anyone has $24,000,000 to spare, we could buy the ranch and reintroduce wolves there.
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