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 Editorials | Environmental | July 2005 
Wyoming Helps to Save Struggling Mexican Pronghorn
 Wire services
A team of biologists has sent dozens of Wyoming pronghorn to Mexico to help replenish a herd on the brink of extinction.
Wildlife experts from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, F.E. Warren Air Force Base and Mexico captured 47 fawns on the west edge of Cheyenne in June and flew them to the Mexican state of Coahuila.
Pronghorn, commonly referred to as antelope, are unique to North America.
It's believed by some scientists that five subspecies exist, including two that are in trouble: the peninsular, found only in Baja California, and the Sonoran, found in southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico.
Jorge Cancino, a Mexican biologist, has been working to save the Sonoran and peninsular pronghorns from extinction for many years and is heading the relocation effort.
Biologists planned to check DNA of the fawns to see how closely it resembles that of the Mexican pronghorn.
If the same, the Wyoming fawns can be raised and their offspring released to provide a population of additional pronghorns in the area. If not, the Wyoming animals could be released where they would not crossbreed with the local pronghorns.
Cancino also plans to take three of the six embryos typically produced by peninsular pronghorn and implant them in their American counterparts, which could double the number of fawns each year.
Rich Guenzel, a Game and Fish wildlife biologist, said with Wyoming's abundance of pronghorn, it only makes sense to share them with Mexico.
"We can, and should, help them with this effort," he said. "In the past, we have needed turkeys, bighorn sheep and fish eggs. Other states have contributed to our efforts, and in turn, we contribute to the efforts of others."
"Wildlife conservation does not know geographic boundaries."
In 1915, the American pronghorn faced extinction due to weak hunting laws, but now Wyomings population is approaching 500,000, wildlife officials said. |
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