By Rebecca Moss
The New Mexican
Federal investigators say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mismanaged aspects of its program to help endangered Mexican wolves survive in the wild, and that it failed to adequately communicate public safety concerns about the predators to residents of Western New Mexico.
The investigation, conducted by the U.S. Department of Interior and made public Monday, was triggered by complaints three years ago from residents of Catron County, the area most affected by efforts to rebuild the endangered Mexican wolf population in the Gila Wilderness. The issues were then raised in Congress by U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-Hobbs.
Residents said the wildlife service failed to document nuisance complaints associated with wolves that encroached on property or threatened livestock, and that it failed to fully compensate ranchers for livestock killed by wolves.
Many of these complaints were verified through the investigation. One finding was that a supervisor, who has since been moved to another federal agency, had not required employees to fill out reports following a nuisance complaint and was “overly passionate” about specific wolves and “thus reluctant to remove them from the wild when it was appropriate to do so.”
Benjamin Tuggle, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southwest Region, said in a statement Monday that, prior to the federal investigation, the agency was made aware of certain problems with regional leadership and had made meaningful changes.
“We are sorting through the details of the report, and deciding what further adjustments or corrective actions may need to take place,” he said.
The investigation revealed a deep divide between the will of the wildlife service and the public in Western New Mexico.
For instance, it mentioned a New Mexico game warden who called the wolf recovery program “a hard sell” because most residents “don’t see the wolf as having any value.”
The report goes on to say that “Catron County did not allow wolf outreach in its schools or signs posted in the community,” fearing that [the wolf recovery program] wanted to “brainwash” children.
Mexican wolves — nearly trapped, hunted and poisoned into extinction — are the rarest subspecies of the North American gray wolf. At the end of 2015, just 47 Mexican wolves were counted in the wilds of New Mexico and 50 more were in Arizona, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s annual survey.
For their part, ranchers and sheriffs described bloody scenes on or near property where an elk or cow was killed by a wolf pack. They said these attacks were not sufficiently dealt with by the wildlife service. Some even wondered if the wildlife service had intentionally removed a slaughtered carcass to conceal evidence of a kill.
Congress’ 2014 Farm Bill established 100 percent compensation for ranchers who could show proof that wolves killed their livestock. But most ranchers interviewed for the investigation said they had only received partial compensation.
Until 2009, if a wolf was associated with three kills in a single year, it meant a warrant for the animal’s death. The three-strike law was scrapped after conservation groups challenged it.
Michael Robinson, of the Center for Biological Diversity, a supporter of Mexican wolf recovery program, said the policy weakened the subspecies. He called the federal report “very incomplete and out of context.”
Robinson said he saw many of the regulations as a response to political pressure from ranchers, rather than a genuine recognition of the needs of the wolves to survive.
Tuggle said some efforts to connect with the community were even used against the wildlife service. He said it printed contact cards to distribute to residents who sighted wolves, but soon after Congressman Pearce told the House of Representatives the cards indicated the program itself saw the wolves as a serious threat. The congressman’s office did not respond to a request for comment late Monday.
The conflict between wolf-recovery efforts and Catron County are evident in the growing mortality count of both cattle and wolves. In the wildlife service’s most recent report this May, it found that nine cattle had been killed by wolves, though no nuisance reports were filed. One wolf, referred to as AF923, was also found dead in New Mexico.
Wildlife managers are investigating the circumstances of the death of another Mexican wolf in New Mexico this month, and a pair that was killed in Arizona.
Killing a Mexican wolf carries a criminal penalty up to $50,000 and a year in jail, though a property owner had the right to kill wolves that enter private lands and attack livestock or non-feral dogs.
The wolf recovery has faced increased scrutiny since early 2015, when the wildlife service said Mexican wolves could be released in the Blue Range, an area of Arizona, and Western New Mexico south of Interstate 40, concentrated in the Gila Wilderness.
New Mexico’s Department of Game and Fish has objected to any releases of wolves, citing an insufficient management plan. The federal agency originally said it did not need the state’s approval to move forward with recovery plans and released two Mexican wolf pups in the Gila Wilderness in late April.
In response, the state filed suit, seeking a temporary restraining order against the federal government from releasing any more wolves. U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson of Las Cruces ruled in favor of the state in June, agreeing that the federal government needed a permit to release Mexican wolves in New Mexico. Young wolves already in the wilderness were allowed to stay.