Famous Mexican "poster wolf" dies of heat exhaustion after recapture

The alpha female AF511 of Francisco Pack, who was the most famous wolf in Mexican wolf program, has died of what seems to have been heat exhaustion. She was removed from a cooler mountain area several weeks ago, shortly after her mate was captured and injured during trapping operations (his leg had to be amputated), and the one adult member of the pack was shot by the government. Her mate, her yearling son, and her five pups were put in an enclosure at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, located in the Chihuahuan desert 20 miles north of Socorro, New Mexico. Temperatures at this lower elevation climbed well over 100^o F, and night temperatures were higher than normal.

Her death happened when biologists entered the enclosure to vaccinate her pups. She dived into one of the wolf shelters (kind of like dog houses for wolves who are frightened) and may have died due to the high temperature there.

She was always close to success. She had 2 litters of wild born pups, but the first litter died of stress from a nearby construction project when they were recaptured. She had been recaptured twice before for leaving the arbitrary boundaries of the tiny Mexican wolf recovery area. Most recently her Francisco Pack killed a few cattle after they have become accustomed to scavenging cattle carcasses due to sloppy cleanup by ranchers

She was the last survivor of the first Mexican wolf release.

The recapture of the Francisco Pack certainly won't go down as a five star operation.

AF511,"Brunhilda," in happier days in the snow. This photo was extensively used by Arizona Fish and Game.
Ironic that she would die of heat exhaustion.

A common sight on some cattle allotments, I took this photo on July 23, 2005 on the Pleasantview Allotment in Idaho. The cow probably died from poison plants (black henbane all over the allotment). The carcass was not removed, but simply left. We also found two dead calves that had been left, neither killed by predators. These abandoned carcasses teach predatory animals that cows are food.

Pleasantview Allotment. Abandoned dead cow
The carcass was 100 feet from the road, and could have easily been hauled away. Photo by Ralph Maughan. July 23, 2005.

Note: I have learned that in areas throughout the West, some livestock owners use the public lands as an illegal disposal place for livestock that died on their private property. The owner of the dead cow above, however, is identified by the ear tag.

7-26-2005. Editorial comment on the Mexican Wolf Program by Michael J. Robinson. "Let Science, Not Politics, help the wolf." Arizona Republic.