mexican gray wolf

A necropsy on an endangered Mexican gray wolf that died in December shows the animal was shot to death.

A federal judge in Arizona has approved a settlement requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a finding by the end of July on a petition that seeks to list the Mexican gray wolf on the federal endangered species list separate from other North American gray wolves.

A decade has passed since the federal government began releasing Mexican wolves into the wild in an effort to return the endangered animal to its historic range in the Southwest.

An environmental group is threatening to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its failure to respond to a petition involving the Mexican gray wolf.

They're all gray wolves, but the Mexican gray wolf is notably different than its faraway cousins, and conservationists now say the animals need specific protection under federal law to avoid extinction.

Wildlife agents rescued two Mexican gray wolf pups found abandoned in a New Mexico forest, but three others from the same litter were found dead, officials said Thursday.