Late last year , Mr Goodbar of eastern Arizona will his home and headed south . He was looking for a partner , and he hop to get hold her in Mexico . There was just one trouble : a 9 - measure ( 30 - foot ) in high spirits wall of massive steel beams standing on the border between the countries .

After five daylight expend seek in vain for a elbow room across the wall , he gave up and reelect home .

Mr Goodbar , an endangered lobo , or Mexican gray wolf , is just one of the many tempestuous animals affected by the enlargement under the Trump administration of the US - Mexico perimeter rampart . Even before construction start on the controversial project , experts had been warning that the plans threatenedupwards of 100endangered species , with Noah Greenwald , endangered species director at the Arizona - based Center for Biological Diversity ( CBD ) , declare the paries “ a disaster for hoi polloi and wildlife likewise , ” which “ could drive magnificent metal money like the jaguar and ocelot to extinction in the United States . ”

Now , it seems we ’re ascertain those predictions play out in real - time . The ability to roam freely between the US and Mexico is “ crucial to [ the ] long - term genetic viability ” of wide - ranging species like the lobo , said biologist John Linnell inNational Geographic . Back in 1977 , the coinage had been reduced to just seven bed individuals , all of whom lived in Northern Mexico – in the US , the animals had been hunted , trap , and poisoned out of creation by the 1930s .

Thanks to captive reproduction computer programme , the population now stands at a much fitter 200 or so , but the mintage ’ hereditary diversity is still dangerously low – which makes Mr Goodbar ’s journey “ an extremely crucial data point , ” accord to biologist Myles Traphagen .

“ The border wall is placing the convalescence of an endangered species at endangerment , ” he told National Geographic . “ And think of all the other animals [ it affects ] , and daily events that occur that we ca n’t see . ”

Among those other animals are endangered metal money like the Sonoran pronghorn , Panthera onca , bears , panther cat , and even bald eagles . Under normal circumstances , a project that threatened at - risk species like this would be illegal under the Endangered Species Act – but thanks to a2017 moveby the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) , the border wall was made nontaxable from all environmental laws .

While President Bidendeclaredupon startup last year that “ no more American taxpayer buck be deviate to retrace a moulding wall , ” there has been small information about any program from the new giving medication to address ecologic or environmental impact from the projection . Some 121 kilometers ( 75 miles ) of planned edge wall construction wascanceledin Texas last year , with the DHS directing the US Customs and Border Protection to instead “ begin environmental planning and actions consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act ( NEPA ) for previously plan border barrier system labor . ”

However , the DHS has also quietly announcednew twist projectsacross states housing the bulwark aimed at “ [ close ] small opening ” and “ remedy incomplete gates . ” Meanwhile , the deserts of Arizona , New Mexico , and California are strew with anestimated half a billion clam ’ worthof sword that was render but never used to ramp up the rampart – half - finished edifice projects thatenvironmentalists saycould have “ devastating encroachment . ”

While the US Fish and Wildlife Service states that the lobos ’ recovery should not be affected by the border wall , National Geographicnotes that the calculations informing that conclusion were done before the Trump administration ’s construction began . With Mr Goodbar ’s journeying to find lovemaking scrub this class , CBD skirt chaser advocate Michael Robinson says we are seeing concrete validation that the border wall is bear on the movement and selection of local wildlife .

“ I was n’t surprised that it happened , because we ’d foreshadow it , ” Robinson told National Geographic . “ But I was bummed out . ”