NM Wolf Trapper Suffocates Wolf When Attempting to Release Him

Summary:

CATRON COUNTY, NM – A Mexican gray wolf was caught in July 2025 in a trap set by a Catron County trapper who killed a Mexican gray wolf after trapping them on public land named William Nelson, 300 yards from legal traps he set on private property, according to a Catron County Sheriff’s Office report. Nelson told authorities he put a sleeping bag over the wolf’s head as he and a rancher tried to free the wolf, and the wolf died.

A necropsy found the wolf died of suffocation, complicated by their airway being blocked by food they had regurgitated while being restrained. Photos with the incident report show the wolf alive, caught in the trap, and their body after being killed, along with the military-issue sleeping bag. Nelson said he tried to “revive the wolf,” and the necropsy found blunt force trauma to the organs possibly caused by CPR attempts. It listed the proximate cause of death as entrapment and the immediate cause as asphyxiation.

Nelson, who has been previously permitted to trap and kill wolves, was also investigated in a 2013 wolf killing. In that case, Nelson shot a yearling female wolf he said he believed at 250 yards was a coyote. He told authorities the wolf had killed a calf nearby.

The Department of Wildlife sought to file charges against Nelson in the 7th Judicial District, which declined to prosecute, saying “it would be impossible to convict at a jury trial an accidental killing of a wolf in Catron County.”

As part of the pre-prosecution agreement offered by NMDOJ, Nelson agreed to download the onX Hunt app, which shows private and public land boundaries.

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