A Mexican gray wolf, Canis lupus bailey. In New Mexico, Mexican gray wolves are required to stay within a designated area, the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area. (Robin Silver/Center for Biological Diversity)
The wandering male Mexican gray wolf “Taylor” was spotted west of Albuquerque this week, the third time this particular wolf has traveled outside of the protected zone and north of Interstate 40 since July.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation organization, Taylor was living on Mount Taylor in the Cibola National Forest before the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish found and relocated him to a protected zone in the Gila National Forest in May. He returned north in mid-July, then was spotted again on Nov. 7 and Nov. 22. The department relocated him to the protected zone after each of his previous trips north of Interstate 40…