Arizona & New Mexico cooperate for wildlife restoration

AZ sent Gould's turkeys to NM in exchange for pronghorn.

CIMARRON, NM – New Mexico has larger pronghorn herds in southern New Mexico and will soon have larger flocks of Gould’s turkeys in the Peloncillo and Animas-San Luis Mountains thanks to the successes of a recent pronghorn trap operation near Cimarron, NM.

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish biologists, conservation officers and staff captured over 200 pronghorn from irrigated croplands on a ranch in northern New Mexico. The pronghorn received blood tests, vaccinations and were fitted with radio collars before being relocated on Bureau of Land Management sites outside of Fort Stanton, near Capitan and northwest of Roswell. In exchange for a flock of 60 Gould’s turkeys, forty-three pronghorn were relocated to Cochise County, Arizona, in cooperation with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

"New Mexicans benefit on multiple fronts from the outcome of this trap," said NMDGF Interim Director R.J. Kirkpatrick. "Southern New Mexico pronghorn herds increase in size, the trade with Arizona provides critical new birds to augment our turkey populations and New Mexicans can enjoy opportunities to see more wildlife in their natural habitat.”

The Department began trapping and transplanting pronghorns to new ranges in New Mexico in the 1930s and continues the practice today. The statewide population now has grown to approximately 30,000 pronghorn.

- from NMDGF