Mexican wolf is still struggling

From the LA Times blog:

Agency must decide on proposed endangered species listing for Mexican gray wolf by end of July, judge rules

The Mexican wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf, was exterminated in the wild by the 1930s. The federal government began reintroducing wolves in 1998 along the Arizona-New Mexico border.

The reintroduction program in the Blue Range began with 13 wolves. Biologists had predicted a self-sustaining wild population of 100 wolves by now.

But the latest count at the end of 2009 found 42 Mexican wolves: 27 in Arizona and 15 in New Mexico. The number was a significant drop from the 52 reported a year earlier.