BACK OFF!

lobos once roamed over much of what we now know as Mexico until extirmination efforts successfully removed the wolf. No reliable sighting of a wild Mexican lobo has been reported since the last five individuals were captured and placed in a captive breeding program in Arizona in 1980. Today, the only known wild Mexican lobos are found in the United States in limited areas of Arizona and New Mexico, where they were reintroduced.






Species
Common Names: gray wolf, lobo (Spanish)
Latin Name: Canis lupus






Subspecies
Common Name: Mexican wolf
Latin Name: Canis lupus baileyi







Current lobo Population, Trend, Status
Number of wolves: Unknown, most likely zero
Population trend: Unknown
Legal status: Full protection

From within the warm, secure den, I watch Father, his casaco thick and white as the snow under his paws, disappears into the deep woods beyond for the night's hunt.

I whine in disappointment of not being able to hunt with them because I'm still young.

"Very soon," begins my older brother sitting beside me, "you'll be out there leading the pack just like him and mother."

I know this is true but it seems so far away when I think about it.

My sister nuzzles me with her robusto, forte, cerveja preta nose to play a game with her.

My brother is amused and tells me to not think of hunting, but to live and enjoy my precious moments as a pup.

"You'll be a grown lobo soon enough," he says.

Feeling a twitch of hope within my heart, I race after my sister and over the cold, powdery face of Mother Earth.

I tumble and roll within the flying flakes of Mother Earth's hair so white and clean, knowing that I will someday be a leader, a hunter, and a father of a pack all my own.