Symbolic vote shows opposition to Mexican gray wolf re-introduction
Suzanne Adams-Ockrassa
Miner Staff Reporter
KINGMAN – Mexican gray wolves are not welcome in Mohave County unless they’ve been spayed or neutered, vaccinated and have a dog license, according a resolution unanimously approved by the Mohave County Board of Supervisors Monday.
The resolution passed with very little discussion from the Board.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced earlier this year that it was studying the idea of expanding the range that Mexican gray wolves could roam in the state from several thousand acres near the Arizona/New Mexico boarder to several million acres of land between Interstate 40 and Interstate 10 in both states. Mexican gray wolves are about the size of a German shepherd.
Livestock owners and hunting guides have opposed the expansion, saying the wolves would endanger their livelihoods by killing wild game and cattle.
District 4 Supervisor Joy Brotherton said she received several comments from local livestock associations saying the Board’s resolution wasn’t strong enough. The other Board members agreed and approved allowing Board Chairman Gary Watson to use suggestions from the county’s livestock associations to strengthen the resolution before presenting it to the federal government at a meeting in Albuquerque, N.M. later this month.
Only one person at Monday’s meeting spoke out in support of the wolves.
“I feel that the Board of Supervisors (has) succumbed to the fear-mongering of mostly ranchers and select few others,” said Golden Valley resident Butch Meriwether, who owns a northern timberland wolf.
“I personally believe the supervisors have much more pressing issues they need to tackle … The (Board) should worry more about the thousands of dogs in the county that run wild instead of on a leash, even though there is a leash law.”
Those dogs probably kill more game animals and pets than a few wolves would, Meriwether said.
“Maybe instead of going after the federal government in regard to the wolves, maybe the supervisors should go after the Arizona government to change the open range laws,” he said. “Having cows run free causes more damage to personal property and lives than a couple of wolves could ever do.”
The Board’s resolution is more of a symbolic protest than a law that could be enforced.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which monitors the wolf re-introduction program, is governed by federal law, which trumps local laws in most cases.
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator Sherry Barrett, the department also vaccinates all wolves that are released from the program into the wild.
Spaying or neutering the animals would defeat the purpose of the project, she said in an email.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife also reimburses ranchers for livestock that are killed by wolves, after an investigation by the department.