Proposal to expand management of wolves opposed
By JIM OWEN
Daily Press Staff
A proposed “memorandum of understanding” drafted by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service proposes involving other agencies in the management of
Mexican gray wolves.
Such a move would “lower the service’s leadership in wolf recovery, and
give more life-and-death power over the wolves to interests more directly
responsive to the livestock industry,” according to Michael Robinson, a
Silver City staffer with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Elizabeth Slown, spokeswoman for the FWS, told the Daily Press the
memorandum merely “formalizes what we’ve been saying for quite a while.”
Robinson alleged that one of the proposals in the document is the service
would no longer employ a wolf-recovery leader.
“According to the interagency management plan in place since the
reintroduction began in March 1998, only the service specifically, the
recovery leader or … the wolf biologist can authorize wolf-control
actions,” Robinson said.
The agency has not had a wolf-recovery leader since Brian Kelly resigned
six months ago.
“Although the service pledged in a 1993 court settlement with
environmentalists to maintain a recovery leader, since Kelly’s departure
it has not done so,” Robinson said. “The effect of this lack of leadership
has been to cede (wolf-control) decisions to the interagency field team.”
However, Slown reported the service has a list of applicants for the
recovery leader position, and that someone will be hired.
“We’re not moving superfast on it, in part because of our budget,” she
acknowledged. “Our wolf biologist, Colleen Buchanan, has been doing both
jobs.”
Another “troublesome provision” of the memorandum, according to Robinson,
is language calling for the service to “provide all necessary
authorizations and permits (for wolf-control actions) to all signatories
(other agencies on the field team) on a timely basis.”
“The use of the words ‘necessary’ and ‘timely’ serve to create pressure on
the service to approve control actions first, rather than exercise
patience and see whether perceived problems resolve themselves,” Robinson
said, alleging the language could result in “the capture and killing of
more wild wolves.”
Slown said management decisions “won’t be any different” as a result of
the memorandum.
“I really don’t know what (Robinson) is getting at,” she stated. “He just
doesn’t trust us.”
Robinson said 10 wolves “have died as a direct result of control actions
since the reintroduction began; nine of them accidental deaths and one
purposeful an animal shot by the service in May.”
“Many other wolves have been injured or so severely traumatized as to
break up packs upon re-release, indirectly leading to their deaths,” he
charged. “Still others have never been given the opportunity for
re-release.”
Slown said the service “would never do that (decide to kill a wolf)
lightly,” pointing out that just one permit to kill a wolf has been
issued.
“Moving wolves around is not the way we would prefer to do it,” she added.
“But they are captive-bred, so some have gone after cattle. We’ve had
problem wolves, just as you have problem children. We made a commitment
when this program began that we would move them (if they preyed on
domestic livestock).”
Other agencies involved in the proposed memorandum of understanding, which
has not been signed or offered for public comment, would be the New Mexico
and Arizona departments of game and fish; the federal Wildlife Services
(formerly know as Animal Damage Control); the Forest Service; the White
Mountain Apache Tribe; five area counties; and the New Mexico Department
of Agriculture.
Robinson said several of the entities are opposed to the reintroduction
effort.
Slown said the purpose of involving the groups is to have them “do more of
the implementation on the ground (because) when these wolves are taken off
the endangered-species list, they will be the responsibility of the states
and not the Fish and Wildlife Service.”
The program “affects a lot of people,” she added. “To keep it all under
one entity is narrow-minded.”
Slown said the goal is to “have an open process,” and obtain more “input
from the public rather than jamming (wolf reintroduction) down their
throats.”
“The American public is counting on the Fish and Wildlife Service to
recover the lobo,” Robinson countered. “Allowing more parochial agencies
to make critical decisions on which wolves will live and which will die is
an evasion of that responsibility.”
Slown responded that the service remains “committed to the recovery
program.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases preliminary findings about
dead wolves
A wolf found dead Sept. 24 at the western edge of Silver City
may have been killed in a collision with a vehicle, according to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
Male 509 of the Francisco Pack was spotted
feeding on a javelina carcass near the water tanks on top of the hill,
near U.S. 180. Shortly thereafter, FWS personnel found the body along the
highway. The agency classified the death as being due to a “potential auto
collision,” though that finding has not been confirmed. The six-member
pack originally was released in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in
eastern Arizona. After the wolves wandered outside the designated recovery
area, they were recaptured and later turned loose in the Gila National
Forest. Other members of the pack were not in the Silver City area when
Male 509 was killed, according to the service.
The FWS this morning also
reported that Male 584 of the Gapiwi Pack, found Sept. 28 one mile east of
Snow Lake in the Gila National Forest, was a “potential gunshot” victim.
The agency confirmed that two of the nine wolves found dead this year were
shooting victims. Two other deaths (including Male 584) are being
investigated as “potential gunshots,” two have been confirmed as resulting
from vehicle collisions, and two others (including Male 509) possibly
involved vehicles.
The body of Male 756 of the Bluestem Pack, found June 9
in Arizona, was “badly decomposed,” the agency reported. Personnel are
“still hoping they can find a cause of death,” according to USFWS
spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown.
The two confirmed gunshot victims were Male
639 of the Cerro Pack, found March 9 in Arizona; and Female 510 of the
Saddle Pack, found Sept. 15 in Arizona.
One of the two wolves personnel
list as “potential gunshot” victims was Female 856, a yearling from an
unknown pack, found Aug. 26 in Arizona.
Officials said Male 593 of the
Redrock Pack (found June 28 in Arizona) and Male 857 of the Luna Pack
(found Sept. 19 in the middle of the road near Willow Creek, in the
northern part of the Gila National Forest) were killed by vehicles.
Male
801 of the Francisco Pack, found Oct. 7 in Arizona, may have met the same
fate.
A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of
those responsible for shooting a wolf. The telephone number is (888)
459-WOLF.