Rewards offered in shooting deaths of endangered Mexican gray wolves
The Associated Press
April 16, 2003
ALBUQUERQUE – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering up to $10,000 for information that could lead to an arrest in the shooting deaths of endangered Mexican gray wolves.
The latest shooting occurred last month, said Victoria Fox, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque. A wolf recovery team picked up a mortality signal from the male wolf’s radio collar while conducting a surveillance flight on March 9. The wolf was found in eastern Arizona.
The service’s forensics laboratory in Ashland, Ore., confirmed that the 2-year-old from the Cerro Pack had been shot. The wolf had recently paired with a female — the third natural pairing since the reintroduction program began in New Mexico and Arizona in 1998, Fox said.
The killing of a Mexican gray wolf is a violation of federal and state laws. Violations of the Endangered Species Act carry criminal penalties ranging from fines of up to $25,000 and six months in jail or civil penalties of up to $25,000.
The wolves, which once roamed in a large area from Mexico to the Southwest United States, largely vanished from the region because of trapping and poisoning of the animals early last century.
Eleven of the endangered wolves have been shot to death since Aug. 7, 1998, said Vicki Fox, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Albuquerque.