Last year, a Mexican gray wolf known as AM2765 was raising pups with his mate in New Mexico's Catron County wilderness.

He was the alpha male of the Frieborn pack, protected as a federally and state-listed endangered species.

Then he was caught in an illegal trap, suffocated, and never made it home.

Nelson, a trapper working with the Catron County Sheriff's Office, had set the trap on public land, not far from traps he'd legally placed on private property nearby. Rather than wait for trained wildlife officials, Nelson tried to free the wolf himself, covering its head with a sleeping bag until it suffocated.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to consider criminal charges. Two other agencies had already passed on the case, with one saying a jury in Catron County would never convict. Torrez's office had a real chance to hold someone accountable for killing an endangered species.

Instead, it let Nelson avoid charges completely, requiring only that he download a phone app that shows land boundaries.

"To have to download an app to your phone is not a sufficient penalty," said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project.

An endangered wolf raising a family in the wild deserved better than a slow, terrifying death and a system that let his killer walk away with a warning. Sign the petition demanding Attorney General Raúl Torrez reopen this case and pursue real charges — before another protected wolf pays the price for a broken system.