Endangered wolf found dead in forest
By Tom Jackson King, Managing Editor
Another Mexican gray wolf has been found dead about six miles east of Vernon, in Apache County, where it had apparently wandered after its release in Apache National Forest.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson Cindy Laws said, “On March 9, M639 was found dead in the vicinity of Cerro Montosa, which is approximately six miles east of Vernon. The cause of his death is under investigation.”
USFWS regularly waits until it receives a forensic report from its wildlife laboratory in Ashland, Ore., before commenting on the cause of death, even when its field personnel have observed gun shot wounds or evidence of fatal injury from being hit by a car.
Multiple wolves have died from being hit by cars or by intentional shooting, along with deaths from disease, other predators, starvation and injuries suffered after release. The wolves, listed as an endangered species, are being released in the national forests of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. The reintroduction of wolves is highly controversial in rural areas where the wolves are being released.
Repeated attacks by wolves on cattle that are legally grazing on purchased allotments of federal land have led the state of Arizona, New Mexico and USFWS to start a project to monitor wolf movements so as to see how often wolves attack cattle.
“The Interagency Field Team is conducting a winter predation study that began March 3 and will continue until March 21,” Laws said.
“The study consists of project personnel flying on a daily basis to identify wolf-killed ungulates from the air and patterns related to those kills. To date, the IFT has located five kills among the three packs that are part of the study,” she said.
Ungulates include deer and elk in addition to cattle.
Laws said one cow death was checked out in the field and found not to be due to wolf attack.
“On March 5 and 7 the Francisco Pack was observed on a cow carcass east of Loafer Tank. Wildlife Services personnel investigated the carcass and found no evidence to support that the cow was killed by wolves,” she said.
Ranchers Gary and Darcy Ely of the Four Drag Ranch on Upper Eagle Creek, in Greenlee County, have repeatedly claimed their ranching operation has been imperiled from the loss of scores of calves as a result of wolf releases. At least five cattle deaths were confirmed at Four Drag by federal personnel and a shoot-to-kill order for two wolves was issued in December 2002 by USFWS Wolf Recovery Coordinator Brian Kelly. That order was later rescinded.
Laws said the current count of Mexican gray wolves in the two-state area includes 24 that are radio-collared and an additional 16 survivors based on field observations by federal and state personnel. The total of 40 wolves does not include wolf pups born in the wild that have not yet been captured and radio-collared.
The next public meeting of state and federal agency members is April 30, when the IMAG group will meet at Hon Dah Casino in the White Mountains, about 10 miles east of Pinetop-Lakeside on the White Mountain Apache Tribe reservation. The WMAT is a partner in the wolf reintroduction program. The meeting is open to the public.