PINETOP — A low-flying helicopter will buzz over parts of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico over two weeks starting Feb. 7 as biologists undertake their annual Mexican wolf population survey and capture.
The flights around Alpine, Arizona, and Reserve, New Mexico, are part of the Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Project, a cooperative effort among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Service Inspection Service and the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
A Friday news release about the survey said there were a minimum of 114 wolves in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico at the end of 2017.
The winter survey creates a snapshot of the Mexican wolf population for agencies making decisions on their future.
