Wolf-reintroduction program will be the topic of April 6 meeting
By JIM OWEN
Daily Press Staff
The wolf-reintroduction program will be discussed Tuesday at a hearing in Silver City hosted by the New Mexico Game Commission.
The event is set for 3-7 p.m. at Light Hall at 1000 W. College Ave.
It has been six years since the first Mexican gray wolves were released in eastern Arizona. The program has since been expanded to include placing the animals in the Gila National Forest.
The debate over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s effort is as polarized as ever with environmentalists and other wolf-recovery proponents on one side, and the ranching community and its supporters on the other.
The Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based environmental group with offices in the Silver City area, has been a leading backer of wolf reintroduction. However, it has been critical of the government’s methods.
The center recently petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service, asking the agency to release wolves directly into the Gila National Forest.
The agencys rules require the initial release of all wolves in Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Some are recaptured and later released on the Gila.
The center also wants wolves to be allowed to establish territories outside boundaries of the designated recovery area within the two national forests.
The final request in the petition is to require ranchers to remove, or render unpalatable, cattle and horse carcasses to prevent wolves from scavenging on them and getting used to eating livestock.
The center said it will file a lawsuit if the agency fails to make the changes within a year.
“With the population of radio-collared Mexican wolves in decline, and the entire wild population in trouble, were letting the feds know that if they dont protect these animals, well see them in court,” said Michael Robinson of Silver City, a center staffer.
The three changes requested by the center were recommended in June 2001 by a panel of independent scientists who reviewed the program.
The center hopes the Game Commission, with members recently appointed by pro-wolf Gov. Bill Richardson, will support the recovery program.
Environmental groups advocated for wolf reintroduction as a way to restore a natural balance in the wild.
On the other side of the issue, members of groups like the New Mexico and Grant County Cattle Growers associations, and the Gila Forest Permittees Association, remain opposed to wolf releases in the state because of the effect on ranching interests.
“You either remove the cattle and the people, or you remove the wolves,” said Laura Schneberger, president of the Gila Permittees Association, in a story by The Associated Press following the first reported livestock killing by a reintroduced wolf in New Mexico.
“It just seems ridiculous that the government is going to allow these cow killers to stay out there,” added Karen Cowan, executive secretary of the state Cattle Growers Association. “Society has moved on since those animals were here 50 years ago.”
Cattle and wolves “weren’t able to coexist in the early 1900s; that’s why (the wolves) were killed out,” Schneberger said.
Ranchers and the federal government nearly eradicated wolves in the Southwest during the first half of the 1900s, in an effort to protect livestock.
Estimates of the number of cattle killed by wolves since reintroduction began in 1998 vary widely, with ranching interests setting the figure much higher than do wolf supporters.
Defenders of Wildlife offers reimbursement to a rancher who loses livestock, but it must be proven that a wolf was responsible. That can be difficult, since animals feeding on carcasses can confuse the evidence at the scene.
Those opposed to wolf releases have alleged the animals are not purebreds, and that to release them into the wild is a violation of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Eight months after the first releases, the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association wrote: “The preferred wild prey base has been declining in the area for several years. … Many questions about the genetic purity and health of the captive Mexican gray wolves still exist. … The wolves have been raised in captivity and are ill-prepared to survive in the wild.”
Most of the wolves that have died were victims of gunshots or vehicle collisions.