Lethal order issued for male Mexican gray wolf
By John Kamin, assistant editor
Fish and Wildlife Service officials authorized the killing of a male
Mexican gray wolf that has killed at least five cattle since late March.
Victoria Fox, a communications officer for the Fish and Wildlife Service,
said wolf M574 committed three confirmed livestock depredations on the San
Carlos Apache Reservation with his mate, F797. Since then, Fish and
Wildlife Service officials issued a lethal take order for M574 and
captured F797.
Fox said the take order is only the third issued since the Mexican Wolf
Reintroduction Project’s inception in 1998.
The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Project’s Interagency Field Team
immediately set out traps for the two wolves after the first depredation
was confirmed. When a wolf kills livestock (such as a cow), it is commonly
referred to as a depredation.
John Oakleaf, the coordinator for the team, said the team uses leghold
traps bearing soft teeth to capture the wolves without harming them.
Fox said the team captured the female wolf on March 24 and brought her
into captivity at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge Wolf Management
Facility. She gave birth to five pups shortly after. The pups were sired
by M574.
Since her capture, M574 has traveled the rugged terrain between the San
Carlos Apache Reservation, the Fort Thomas Apache Reservation and the
Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
H. Dale Hall, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s southwest regional director,
said, “This wolf has demonstrated that he is prone to killing livestock,
and that is unacceptable behavior.
A wolf that repeatedly focuses on domestic livestock poses a threat
towards the recovery of the species.”
Hall said the Fish and Wildlife Service promised to remove any wolves that
repeatedly hunt livestock, such as cattle.
The Courier previously reported that hazing is a tactic used to scare
wolves away from areas with livestock.
Hazing utilizes radio-activated guard boxes (RAG boxes), rubber bullets
and cracker shells to scare away the wolves. When a collared wolf
approaches a RAG box, the box will make noises. Cracker shells make an
extremely loud noise when fired out of a shotgun and are known to scare
wolves away.
“Usually hazing or moving problem wolves away from livestock into other
areas will minimize future conflicts,” he said. “These efforts have failed
in this case, making lethal means the most responsive method to address
the needs of those economically affected by wolf recovery.”
According to the project’s program review, released at the beginning of
2004, about 50 to 60 wolves are in the wild. About 260 wolves reside in
captivity in the United States and in Mexico.