March 23, 2021
A member of the Mexican gray wolf recovery team carries a wolf captured during an annual census near Alpine, Arizona. Once on the verge of extinction, the rarest subspecies of the gray wolf in North America has seen its population nearly double over the last five years. U.S. wildlife managers said March 12, 2021, the latest survey shows there are now at least 186 Mexican gray wolves in the wild in New Mexico and Arizona. (Mark Davis, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP, File)
Stories this photo appears in:
Management of the predators has spurred numerous legal challenges over the decades by both ranchers and environmentalists.