Endangered wolf repopulation controversial
LOS ANGELES(UPI) — Conflicts between the cattle industry and endangered species protection groups threaten efforts to increase the Mexican gray wolf population, officials say.
The Los Angeles Times said that even the U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials who crafted the federal program to reestablish the once-flourishing Mexican gray wolf found fault with the methods used.
Benjamin Tuggle, the Southwest regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, said, “We’ve made some mistakes on our own. We’ve cost the lives of wolves. I’m not comfortable with where we are in handling these wolves.”
“It’s the worst-case example abrogation of Endangered Species Act responsibility that I’ve seen,” said Jamie Clark, former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and now executive vice president of the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife.
The recovery program placed the wolves in an area of New Mexico where federal land is used for cattle grazing. The area’s powerful livestock industry strongly opposes the wolf reintroduction.