Group upset over proposed wolf trapping
A Silver City staffer with the Center for Biological Diversity is
criticizing a government agency’s effort to trap a Mexican gray wolf.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to pressure by U.S. Rep.
Stevan Pearce, R-N.M., has initiated trapping for a wolf for a reason not
spelled out in the agency’s management plan – proximity to cattle,”
Michael J. Robinson wrote in a news release.
The wolf is the only surviving member of the Red Rock Pack, released this
spring in eastern Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
“He is deemed the most important wolf, from a genetic standpoint,
that is in
the southwestern wilds, as he is the only one descended from all
three of
the Mexican wolf’s captive lineages (Aragon, Ghost Ranch and
McBride),”
Robinson wrote.
“The politically inspired attempt to capture him sets a precedent
that will
further undermine the already hobbled wolf-reintroduction program,”
he
added.
Robinson reported that, during the past two weeks, the wolf “has
twice
scavenged on two dead cattle that were determined to have died from
causes
other than wolves.”
The wolf is suspected of attacking three calves that were seen
limping in
the same region, Rainy Mesa in the Gila National Forest, “but those
calves
have not been examined by recovery team personnel and thus there is
no
evidence that he or any other wolf actually attacked them,” Robinson
wrote.
“The management plan deems a wolf as a ‘problem’ animal subject to
capture
or killing only when he or she is verified to have attacked
livestock or is
living largely outside the Mexican wolf recovery area, which
consists of the
Gila and Apache national forests,” he explained.
“(The wolf in question) does not qualify on these grounds.
Nevertheless,
leghold traps have been set for him.”
Officials with the Fish and Wildlife Service did not return a
telephone call
from the Daily Press this morning. The director of the New Mexico
Cattle
Growers Association also was unavailable for comment.
Robinson wrote that the wolf “has been traveling the past few weeks
with a
female wolf who dispersed from the recently re-released Francisco
Pack,
which also did not attack livestock but was removed from the wild
because
(the pack was) living largely outside the recovery area.”
The female wolf “is just as likely to step into one of the traps as
(the
targeted male wolf) is,” Robinson noted.
“Even though independent scientists have affirmed that Mexican
wolves need
to be able to roam freely outside the arbitrary political lines of
the
recovery area like all other wildlife are allowed (to do), and that
control
actions should be minimized, now the government is coming up with new
reasons to trap them,” he wrote.
Robinson said Fish and Wildlife officials “have stated emphatically
that
wolves will not be trapped simply for scavenging on livestock
carcasses, but
(the wolf in question) is being targeted for returning to an area
where he
twice found carcasses to feed on.”
“Since more than half of the recovery area is grazed by cattle, and
they
regularly die of a variety of causes, this precedent-setting action
will
effectively designate as off-limits most of the only area where the
wolves
are supposed to roam.”
Between 1915 and the late 1920s, the federal government exterminated
wolves from New Mexico, southern Arizona and Texas.
“In 1950, the Fish and Wildlife Service began exporting poison and
federal
personnel to accomplish the same end south of the border,” Robinson
wrote.
After passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, the last five
known
Mexican gray wolves in Mexico were captured and placed in a captive-
breeding
program. The animals, the McBride lineage, were supplemented with a
few
Mexican wolves already in captivity (the Aragon and Ghost Ranch
lineages).
In March 1998, the Fish and Wildlife Service began reintroducing
wolves in
eastern Arizona. The animals later were released in the Gila National
Forest.
The current population of wolves in the wild is 27 with radio
collars, in
addition to an unknown number of uncollared animals.