The wolves of the New Mexico’s Middle Fork pack are some of the most endangered animals on the planet.

The mother and father of the pack have both lost a leg to painful human-made traps -- leaving each with just three legs. A punishing drought in the Middle Fork pack’s home range makes the search for food to feed their four pups more and more challenging. And anti-wolf forces are working to once again eradicate their entire species in the wild.

The Middle Fork wolves really are extremely important. As one of just two breeding pairs in New Mexico for the nearly extinct Mexican gray wolf (the lobo), the Middle Fork pack’s alpha male (AM871) and female (AF861) are critical to the future of the wolf in the Southwest.    

 Demand that the federal government not cave into the pressure of local wolf-haters to kill these wolves.
Use proven on-the-ground techniques to keep these wolves away from livestock and away from the guns of those who would shoot them.
 Post rewards to bring poachers who kill endangered lobos to justice.

Twice this summer, state agencies have threatened to remove the Middle Fork wolves from the wild -- a move would see these wolves either killed or consigned to captivity for the rest of their lives and would wreck efforts to rescue lobos from a second extinction in the wild.

So far, Defenders of Wildlife and our allies have been able to convince officials to keep the Middle Fork wolves where they belong -- in the wild.

According to the most recent official count, there are just 52 lobos left in the wild.

President Obama has pledged to uphold the landmark Roadless Rule to protect the last untouched wilderness in our National Forests -- and the lynx, wolverines, grizzly bears and other animals that live there -- from new roads and harmful development..

But the State of Colorado -- backed by powerful special interests -- is trying to skirt this popular policy and open up millions of acres of pristine Rocky Mountain backcountry to loggers, miners and oil and gas developers.

We can’t stand by and let Colorado shortchange wildlife on public lands that every American owns.

Our roadless forests are irreplaceable. In addition to being some of the last wild refuges in a quickly developing world, these lands provide unparalleled habitat for wildlife, clean drinking water and jobs for our communities and first-class opportunities to enjoy the wild outdoors.

But if the Obama administration accepts Colorado's plan, millions of acres of our national forests could become a magnet for industrial development that will put lynx and other imperiled wildlife at risk. It could also pave the way for similar activity on unspoiled forest lands in the rest of the country.

In our quickly developing nation, and especially in the West where so much of our imperiled wildlife lives, we owe it to future generations of Americans to do everything in our power to protect the truly wild places we have left. And in the face of a warming world, the stakes become even higher -- and our obligation to future generations even greater. 

As Henry David Thoreau remarked, "In wildness is the preservation of the world." You can help us protect Colorado's forests and the amazing wildlife that depends on them -- and prevent a bad precedent from being set for other states. Send your message to the Obama administration today.

Once these special places are gone, they’re gone forever…