ACTION ALERT: “Mexican Gray Wolf Supporters to Rally at Capitol”

From Center For Biological Diversity 

For Immediate Release, May 18, 2015

Activists Will Urge Gov. Martinez to Reverse Game Commission Stance, Grant Reintroduction Permit to Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch

SANTA FE, N.M.— Wildlife supporters, including local activists from the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance,  Animal Protection of New Mexico and WildEarth Guardians, will rally tomorrow, Tuesday, at noon at the state capitol to ask Gov. Susana Martinez to allow Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch in Sierra County to continue housing Mexican gray wolves as part of the reintroduction of these endangered animals. Earlier this month, the state game commission denied the ranch’s permit request, ending the facility’s 17 years of Mexican wolf conservation work. From Center For Biological Diversity For Immediate Release, May 18, 2015

MAY 19 RALLY FOR THE MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES:

WHAT: Members of the public will rally at the New Mexico State Capitol (a.k.a. the Roundhouse), in Santa Fe to protest the New Mexico Game Commission’s politically-based refusal to renew a permit for the Ladder Ranch to hold wolves as part of the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program.

When: Noon to 1:30 p.m., Tuesday

Where: East side (front) of the Roundhouse

Visuals: Attendees will have signs and banners. Speakers will include former Santa Fe Mayor David Coss; former federal Mexican wolf recovery coordinator David R. Parsons; Michael Robinson, author and wolf activist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Silver City; and Roxane George of Mexicanwolves.org.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 825,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/mexican-gray-wolf-05-18-2015.html

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Photo: Courtesy Lobos of the Southwest

Posted in: Mexican gray wolf, action alert, activism, Howling For Justice

Tags: Center for Biological Diversity, Critically endangered Mexican gray wolf, Ted Turner Ladder Ranch, Governor Martinez, protest to reinstate Ladder Ranch permit, New Mexico, May 19, 2015

Action Alert: Dozens of Conservation Groups Urge New Mexico Gov. Martinez to Restore Permit for Crucial Mexican Wolf-recovery Facility on Ted Turner’s Ranch

Center For Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, May 15, 2015

Nationwide Movement Deplores Politically Driven Halt to Turner’s Assistance

SILVER CITY, N.M.— Forty-six conservation organizations and wolf-breeding facilities, in 13 states as well as the nation’s capital, are imploring New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez to reverse the state’s Game Commission’s decision to deny Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch permission to continue housing endangered Mexican gray wolves. By providing facilities where captive-bred wolves can be acclimated to the wild before their release, the ranch’s work has been a key part of the federal Mexican wolf reintroduction program for the past 17 years.

“We find it odd and inappropriate for state government to interfere with philanthropic activities conducted responsibly by a private landowner on private lands to offset expenses that otherwise would be borne by taxpayers,” the organizations wrote in a letter sent to the Republican governor today.

On May 7 the game commission, whose members represent livestock and hunting interests, denied the Turner Endangered Species Fund a permit to continue operating its wolf-holding facilities on the Ladder Ranch, which abuts the Gila National Forest where Mexican wolves live in southwestern New Mexico. The facilities have been used since the beginning of the reintroduction program in 1998.

“Gov. Martinez should tell her game commission to quit playing politics and allow Ted Turner to continue his critically important work helping to recover the endangered Mexican gray wolf,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Reintroduction requires many helping hands, and it’s shameful that there are impeding hands as well.”

They groups also wrote that “policy decisions should not be dictated through depriving managers of infrastructure.”

“The game commission is composed of trapping, livestock and trophy-hunting representatives who apparently do not share most New Mexicans’ enthusiasm for these rare, important and beautiful wolves,” said Mary Katherine Ray of the Sierra Club, Rio Grande chapter. “They should not unilaterally be denying a permit for a facility on private land that is and has been working cooperatively in the public interest to conserve endangered wildlife.”

“The game commission has once again shown its prejudice against New Mexico’s native carnivores,” said Kevin Bixby of the Southwest Environmental Center. “But the commission’s act of ideological petulance is fiscally irresponsible, since taxpayers will now have to foot the bill for what Ted Turner was doing for free to help government biologists in the recovery of the Mexican wolf.”

Background The 157,000-acre Ladder Ranch includes five pens that can hold as many as 25 wolves. It serves as a way station for wolves released into or removed from the wild. Previously the ranch’s permit had been issued by the director of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, but a November 2014 game commission rule required, for the first time, that permits used in reintroduction of mammalian carnivores be approved by the commission.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 825,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/mexican-gray-wolf-05-15-2015.html

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Contact New Mexico’s governor and let her know how you feel about Ted Turner’s Ladder ranch losing its permit to house critically endangered Mexican gray wolves. It looks like the New Mexico Game Commission is playing a nasty game of politics with the lives of Mexican gray wolves.

“Playing tit for tat with an endangered species is not only unproductive; it’s petty. Yet that appears to be what the New Mexico Game Commission did last week when it declined to renew a permit that had been in place for 17 years allowing Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch in the Gila mountains to assist the federal Mexican gray wolf recovery program.”…editorial Albuquerque Journal

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New Mexico Governor  Susana Martinez

(505) 476-2200

Office of the Governor 490 Old Santa Fe Trail Room 400 Santa Fe, NM 87501

http://www.governor.state.nm.us/Contact_the_Governor.aspx

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Editorial: Game board unfairly takes aim at gray wolf protector

By Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board PUBLISHED: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 12:02 am

http://www.abqjournal.com/583202/opinion/game-board-unfairly-takes-aim-at-gray-wolf-protector.html

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Photo: Courtesy Human Society of the United States

Posted in: Mexican gray wolf, Wolf Wars, wolf recovery

Tags: Mexican gray wolves, New Mexico Fish and Game, Governor Martinez, Ted Turner Ladder Ranch, Ted Turner denied permit, playing politics with an endangered species

Mexican Gray Wolves Offered Double Edged Sword…

Aspen AF667 and AM863 in the summer of 2007 (USFWS)

USFWS gives and then takes away. Mexican gray wolves will be allowed to roam further but will be under the threat of increased killing! I highlighted some of the blithering  from the USFWS. Of course they’re speaking  in double talk but the bottom line is this: …..“as proposed, those science-based reforms would be coupled with provisions that would allow increased federal, state and private trapping and shooting of wolves, contrary to studies that show that more wolves must be allowed to live in the wild.” (Center For Biological Diversity)

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Wolves Could Be Free to Roam, be Killed Under Program Changes
PUBLIC COMMENT SOUGHT

Posted: Friday, August 8, 2014 9:40 am
By Donald Jaramillo and Benjamin Fisher Cibola Beacon and Silver City Daily Press | 0 comments

CIBOLA COUNTY – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently announced its update to its June 2013 proposed revisions to the existing nonessential experimental population designation of the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) under the Endangered Species Act to provide additional clarity and flexibility to effectively manage the experimental population in a working landscape. The Service also announced the availability of a draft environmental impact statement (dEIS) on the proposed revisions. A 60-day public comment period is reopening through Sept. 23 to provide all interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed rule and dEIS. Public information meetings and hearings have also been scheduled.
FWS has proposed new revisions to the Mexican gray wolf initiative that would expand both the scope of the animals’ reintroduction and the freedom to kill them in certain circumstances.

The proposed a revision would extend the wolf’s population area from Interstate 40 to the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico and Arizona. This would allow reintroduction and dispersion of the wolf to anywhere in that border area. Since not all of that area is federal land, it will allow the wolves to spread onto private, state and tribal lands as well.
“(We’re) trying to open up the landscape, to set up a northern border at I-40 and let them spread out,’ said Tracy Melbihess, a biologist with the FWS’s Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. “It gives the wolves the chance to spread out outside of the Apache and Gila national forests.”

“If we are already in place trying to remove wolves from an area, it is just more efficient to go ahead and permit the property owner to help us,” Melbihess said. “So, this could permit ranchers to take a wolf under very special circumstances.”
Jeff Humphrey, a public outreach specialist with the USFWS, said that the pro posed revision is really there to open a broad enough rule to accommodate what may be needed in the future.

Because of the wolf’s proposed new spread, many private, state and tribal lands are included — resulting in more opportunities for interaction between wolves and humans. Therefore, the proposal also clarifies definitions of when wolves can be taken while attacking livestock or non-feral dogs, or as is needed to manage wild populations of elk, deer, etc. The FWS already “takes” wolves in these situations.

The proposal will be the subject of two hearings. The New Mexico meeting will be held Aug. 13 from 6 to 9 p.m. in Truth or Consequences, with an informational session scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. that day in the same location. The Arizona meeting will be held Aug. 11 in Pinetop.

The comment period on the proposed rule will remain open through Sept. 23.
Since 1998, the Service and cooperating state, federal and tribal agencies have reintroduced and managed Mexican wolves under a rule designating the U.S. population as “Nonessential, Experimental.” The designation provides for increased management flexibility for populations that are reintroduced into a designated experimental area within their historical range.

The proposed revisions include:
• _expanding the areas within which Mexican wolves can be released and disperse,
• _extending the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area’s (MWEPA) southern boundary from I-40 to the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and New Mexico, and
• _clarifying definitions in the rule, including when wolves can be taken while attacking livestock and non-feral dogs, or as needed to manage wild ungulate populations (elk, deer, etc.).

The regulatory flexibility provided by these proposed revisions to the 1998 rule would allow for management actions within the MWEPA that further the conservation of the Mexican wolf while being responsive to the needs of local communities in cases of problem wolf behavior.

The proposed rule revisions have been informed by and are being evaluated through the development of a comprehensive dEIS. The dEIS evaluates impacts of four alternative revisions to the rule (including the 1998 rule) on land use, biological resources (including wild ungulate prey species), economic activities (including ranching, hunting and tourism), human health and safety, and environmental justice.

Written comments on this proposed rule and the draft environmental impact statement can be submitted by one of the following methods:
(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov . Search for FWS–R2–ES–2013–0056, which is the docket number for this rulemaking. You may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment Now!” Ensure that you have found the correct rulemaking before submitting your comment.
(2) By hard copy: Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R2–ES–2013–0056; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
Previously submitted comments on the proposed rule revision and dEIS need not be resubmitted, as they will be fully considered in preparation of the final rule and EIS.

To learn more about the proposed rule revision, dEIS, and details of the public hearings, and for links to submit comments to the record, visit http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/ 

http://www.cibolabeacon.com/news/wolves-could-be-free-to-roam-be-killed-under-program/article_44905c6c-1f12-11e4-82a4-0019bb2963f4.html

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Photo: Courtesy USFWS

Posted in: Mexican gray wolves,  Wolf Wars , Action Alert

Tags: Increased ability to kill Mexican gray wolves, more room to roam but with strings, let wolves live in peace, take action, critically endangered species

Mexican Gray Wolf Numbers Increase But Still A Long Way To Go…..

“Two Middle Fork pups in the summer of 2011” USFWS

The number of Mexican gray wolves has increased to 83. That’s up from 75 last year but the feds have much more to do,  to make good on their promises to recover this critically endangered wolf.

Wolf population growing, but not enough to please advocates

PHOENIX – The number of Mexican gray wolves roaming eastern Arizona and western New Mexico increased by eight to 83 wolves in the past year, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Noting that the population has increased for four straight years, federal and state officials said in a news release that the recovery program has saved the Mexican gray wolf from extinction. However, wildlife advocates said that the effort hasn’t gone far enough to ensure the species’ genetic diversity.

“I’m happy we have seen an increase in population for four years in a row,” said Michael Robinson, a conservation advocate for the Tucson-based Center of Biological Diversity. “What’s worrisome is the number of breeding pairs.”

A group of seven wolves was released in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in 1998, starting the reintroduction program. Since then, the U.S. Wildlife and Fish Service has been managing and keeping track of the wolf population while also introducing captive wolves into the wild.

Robinson said there isn’t enough genetic variability among the wild wolves because officials haven’t released enough captive wolves.

“The original genetic diversity has not been maximized, and this means smaller litter sizes and lower pup survival rates,” he said.

Read More: http://cronkitenewsonline.com/2014/02/wolf-population-growing-but-not-enough-to-please-advocates/

This was the situation just 3 1/2 years ago:

Mexican Gray Wolves On The Brink!

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/mexican-gray-wolves-on-the-brink/

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Photo: Courtesy USFWS

Posted in: Mexican Gray Wolf

Tags: Mexican gray wolf, critically endangered, inbreeding, more releases needed. expand wolves’ range, USFWS

The Haunting Howl of The Mexican Gray Wolf…

One of the most endangered animals in the world, the Mexican gray wolf, demonstrates why the howl of the wolf is so hauntingly beautiful and symbolic of all that is wild and free. This is the sound wolf haters want to silence forever! The Mexican gray wolves fate is tied to their Northern brothers and sisters.  They are all suffering, although the Mexican gray wolf  population increased again this year, it’s nothing even close to the 200 wolves USFWS promised would be roaming free by 2006. Over 66% of the Blue Range wolf recovery area is heavily grazed by cattle and open to mining, forestry and recreational interests. (ghosts of the southwest).  Seven years later there are just 75  Mexican grays living in the wild.

The Mexican gray wolf  stands as a reminder of what can happen to all gray wolves when ignorance and intolerance prevail.

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Uploaded on Jan 21, 2008 by Rick LoBello

“Please help save the Mexican wolf by forwarding message to others.

I transferred to video an old 8mm movie I took during the late 1970s of what I believe was the last or one of the last wild Mexican wolves captured from northern Mexico before the species went extinct in the wild. Thanks to the efforts of people from across then continent with the help of the numerous zoos that have been maintaining a captive population, the US Fish and Wildlife Department and the US Forest Service with the help of the states of Arizona and New Mexico, were able to reintroduce wolves successfully back into the wild in 1998.

As you watch the film keep in mind that this animal, less than a week before I filmed it, was living in the wilds of Mexico. It was one of the last descendants of wild Mexican wolves that had been living in harmony with the land and Native Americans for thousands of years. Their story almost came to a complete end. Fortunately the United States passed the Endangered Species Act. If it wasn’t for that critical piece of legislation I am sure that the Mexican wolf would have gone completely extinct since there were few animals in captivity and virtually none in zoos.

I hope that people who watch this 3 minute video will want to learn more about these beautiful animals and get involved in efforts to help with conservation efforts here in the United States and Mexico.

All Mexican wolves believed to be alive in the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico today, are the descendants of the progeny of this wolf and four others. The wolf in the film was captured by Roy McBride who was hired by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the Mexican government to rescue the last wild Mexican wolves in Durango and Chihuahua. Roy and I were fellow graduate students at Sul Ross State University in Alpine where the film was made.

Most of you know that at the El Paso Zoo where I work we have three Mexican wolves and are trying to help save this critically endangered species in many ways including supporting the ongoing reintroduction program in the Southwest. If you have been following the story of this project you know that the descendants of the wolf in this video need our continued support. Please go on the Internet by starting with the El Paso Zoo website at http://www.elpasozoo.org where you can learn more and get involved. Start with the page we have at http://www.elpasozoo.org/takeaction. The music is from Peter Kater’s soundtrack from the film “How the West Was Lost”, track 2 – Dull Knife and Little Wolf.”… Rick Lobello

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Top Video: Courtesy Endangered Wolf You Tube

Middle Video: Courtesy In Memory Of The Last Wild Mexican Wolf

Bottom video: Courtesy WapiskisiwMahihkan

Photo: Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

Posted in: Mexican Gray Wolf, Wolf Wars

Tags: wolf song, wolf howl, haunting beauty, protect wolves, stop the persecution and slaughter, Canis Lupus Bailey

US Representative Raul Grijalva Speaks Out For The Fox Mountain Pack….

Mexican gray wolf  (USFWS)

Lets give US Rep. Raul Grijalva D-NM a hand. In a letter addressed to Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, Southwest Regional Director USFWS,  Rep Grijalva took the USFWS to task for their handling of  Mexican gray wolf recovery or lack thereof and the fate of the Fox Mountain wolf pack.

Click here to read Representative Grijalva’s letter.

He pointed out removing the Fox Mountain alpha female from the wild was the wrong thing to do when there are no new releases of Mexican gray wolves planned. He raises concerns that by attempting to remove this wolf mother serious injury or death could befall her, her pups or other pack members.

In 2006 the Hon Dah Pack was decimated when USFWS intervened.

12-Wolf Pack Is Down to Two

May 25, 2006
By Tania Soussan

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/462778nm05-25-06.htm

Taking a breeding female from the wild, when there have been no new releases of Mexican gray wolves since 2008, is absurd. The Fox Mountain pack is just one of six breeding pairs living wild.

Mexican gray wolves are the most critically endangered land mammals in North America. Their present day genetics descend from just seven wolves who were saved from poisoning and death during the tragic gray wolf extermination of the 1900’s. The wolves are in-bred because of this.

Remember the Mexican gray wolf female who was shot when she bred with a dog. The poor little wolf probably couldn’t find another male wolf to mate with. Wolves are social animals, so she was seeking out the company of other canines. She lost her life because of it and her pups were also killed.

From the LA Times:

Rare Mexican Wolf shot for mating with dog

Posted by Graham_Land in Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, 20 Dec 2011

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week ordered the death of a female Mexican gray wolf after the animal was discovered hanging around a group of domestic dogs.

The lone 4-year-old female was shot and killed in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest on Wednesday after she was apparently attracted to domestic dogs at a private residence. The female had earlier this year mated with a dog and given birth to a litter of five hybrid pups. Four of the pups were euthanized and the fifth has not been found.

 The five-year Mexican wolf reintroduction program has so far failed to recover the animals, and more wolves are being held in captive facilities than are free in the wild. Wildlife biologists say that when female wolves fail to find a male wolf as a mate, they pair with domestic dogs, producing wolf-dog hybrids that are usually put down by wildlife authorities.”

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There are so few Mexican grays in the wild, last count just 58, that it’s a miracle they even find each other to breed. As with all wolves in the lower forty-eight and around the world they suffer from severe persecution, poaching and the heavy hand of state and federal controls.

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Visit Lobos of the Southwest for further information.

Congressman Grijalva Sends Letter to Director Tuggle of the Fish and Wildlife Service

Arizona Congressman Speaks Up in Support of Mexican Gray Wolves, August 16, 2012 (posted 08/23/12)

http://www.mexicanwolves.org/index.php/news/754/51/Congressman-Grijalva-Sends-Letter-to-Director-Tuggle-of-the-Fish-and-Wildlife-Service

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Increase Wolves’ Genetic Pool by Releasing More to Wild

By Michael Robinson / Conservation Advocate Center for Biological Diversity

Wed, Aug 22, 2012

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/08/22/opinion/increase-wolves-genetic-pool-by-releasing-more-to-wild.html

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KEEP THE FOX MOUNTAIN ALPHA FEMALE WILD!!

Mexican gray wolf and pup (National Geographic Wallpaper by Joel Sartore)

Continue the pressure to save this alpha female from a life in captivity. It looks like they’re ignoring our pleas and are still trying to catch her.

“Service spokesman Tom Buckley said the agency would not change course and allow the wolf to remain in the wild, despite the ongoing public pressure.”

Taking this mother from the wild is wrong!! Either remove the cattle from the wolf recovery area or  recover these critically endangered wolves in a cow free zone, where they don’t face continual persecution over cattle. This is why after 14 years the wolf program has been a failure. It’s the same story repeating itself, wolves are either poached or get in trouble over cattle.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different result.

The North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park would be perfect for the wolves. No ranchers, no cows and lots of mule deer. Is that too sensible of a solution?? Of course people have been calling for this for years but sadly it’s fallen on deaf ears.

This appeared in the Albuquerque Journal

Wolf Will Live, But Maybe Not In Wild

By Rene Romo / Journal South Reporter on Thu, Aug 16, 2012

LAS CRUCES – Conservationists were thrilled when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week rescinded a two-day-old order to kill a Mexican gray wolf blamed for killing four cattle in recent months, but they continue to press federal officials to let the wolf remain in the wild.

Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity said removing the Fox Mountain pack’s alpha female, the mother of at least four pups, is bad policy for a recovery project that has only 58 wolves in the wild in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico.

Fish and Wildlife’s acting regional director rescinded the kill order on Aug. 10 after the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., stepped forward and offered to house the alpha female for the rest of her life.

Service spokesman Tom Buckley said the agency would not change course and allow the wolf to remain in the wild, despite the ongoing public pressure.

Before the first release of wolves in a national forest in Arizona in 1998, federal officials projected there would be 100 wolves in the wild by the end of 2006. However, illegal shootings and strict management of cattle-killing wolves have slowed the population’s growth.

Removal, Robinson said, “will have the same results ecologically on the wolves that are remaining as if they killed her.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional office in Albuquerque was inundated by hundreds of phone calls and emails protesting the Aug. 8 kill order, the first such order issued by the Service in four years. Killing the wolf, advocates said, would decrease the wolf pups’ chances for survival.

Federal agents on Wednesday afternoon were continuing the efforts they started last week to capture the Fox Mountain alpha female.

READ MORE:

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/08/16/news/wolf-will-live-but-maybe-not-in-wild-2.html

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KEEP CALLING AND EMAILING.

Don’t give up on her. We need increased pressure on USFWS to do the right thing!!

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US Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Office: 505-761-4748 or 505-363-2797

USFSW Regional Director Tuggle: RDTuggle@fws.gov

White House (202) 456-1111

Senator Tom Udall (202) 224-6621, (505) 988-6511 or (505) 346-6791

Senator Jeff Bingaman (202) 224-5521 or 1-800-443-8658

Congressman Ben Ray Luján (505) 984-8950 or (202) 225-6190

Congressman Martin Heinrich (505) 346-6781 or (202) 225-6316

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Photo: National Geographic Photo by Joel Sartore

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Mexican Gray Wolf

Tags:  Keep her wild, no legholds, retire grazing leases, remove cows near den site, Fox Mountain Alpha Mother, USFWS, Dr. Tuggle

KEEP THE FOX MOUNTAIN WOLF MOTHER WILD!!!

Mexican gray wolf and pup (National Geographic Wallpaper by Joel Sartore)

Continue the pressure to save this alpha female from a life in captivity. It looks like they’re ignoring our pleas and are still trying to catch her.

“Service spokesman Tom Buckley said the agency would not change course and allow the wolf to remain in the wild, despite the ongoing public pressure.”

Taking this mother from the wild is wrong!! Either remove the cattle from the wolf recovery area or  recover these critically endangered wolves in a cow free zone, where they don’t face continual persecution over cattle. This is why after 14 years the wolf program has been a failure. It’s the same story repeating itself, wolves are either poached or get in trouble over cattle.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different result.

The North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park would be perfect for the wolves. No ranchers, no cows and lots of mule deer. Is that too sensible of a solution?? Of course people have been calling for this for years but sadly it’s fallen on deaf ears.

This appeared in the Albuquerque Journal

Wolf Will Live, But Maybe Not In Wild

By Rene Romo / Journal South Reporter on Thu, Aug 16, 2012

LAS CRUCES – Conservationists were thrilled when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week rescinded a two-day-old order to kill a Mexican gray wolf blamed for killing four cattle in recent months, but they continue to press federal officials to let the wolf remain in the wild.

Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity said removing the Fox Mountain pack’s alpha female, the mother of at least four pups, is bad policy for a recovery project that has only 58 wolves in the wild in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico.

Fish and Wildlife’s acting regional director rescinded the kill order on Aug. 10 after the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., stepped forward and offered to house the alpha female for the rest of her life.

Service spokesman Tom Buckley said the agency would not change course and allow the wolf to remain in the wild, despite the ongoing public pressure.

Before the first release of wolves in a national forest in Arizona in 1998, federal officials projected there would be 100 wolves in the wild by the end of 2006. However, illegal shootings and strict management of cattle-killing wolves have slowed the population’s growth.

Removal, Robinson said, “will have the same results ecologically on the wolves that are remaining as if they killed her.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional office in Albuquerque was inundated by hundreds of phone calls and emails protesting the Aug. 8 kill order, the first such order issued by the Service in four years. Killing the wolf, advocates said, would decrease the wolf pups’ chances for survival.

Federal agents on Wednesday afternoon were continuing the efforts they started last week to capture the Fox Mountain alpha female.

READ MORE:

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/08/16/news/wolf-will-live-but-maybe-not-in-wild-2.html

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KEEP CALLING AND EMAILING.

Don’t give up on her. We need increased pressure on USFWS to do the right thing!!

===

US Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Office: 505-761-4748 or 505-363-2797

USFSW Regional Director Tuggle: RDTuggle@fws.gov

White House (202) 456-1111

Senator Tom Udall (202) 224-6621, (505) 988-6511 or (505) 346-6791

Senator Jeff Bingaman (202) 224-5521 or 1-800-443-8658

Congressman Ben Ray Luján (505) 984-8950 or (202) 225-6190

Congressman Martin Heinrich (505) 346-6781 or (202) 225-6316

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Photo: National Geographic Photo by Joel Sartore

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Mexican Gray Wolf

Tags:  Keep her wild, no legholds, retire grazing leases, remove cows near den site, Fox Mountain Alpha Mother, USFWS, Dr. Tuggle

WildEarth Guardians Urges Fox Mountain Alpha Female Remain Wild…

August 14, 2012
Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240
Dr. Benjamin Tuggle
Regional Director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 1306
Albuquerque, NM 87103

Re: Request to Stay Order to Capture and Remove Mexican Wolf AF1188 from the Wild

Dear Secretary Salazar and Dr. Tuggle:

Thank you for rescinding the August 8, 2012, kill order for Alpha Female 1188 of the Fox Mountain Mexican wolf pack, who has five pups, including four young of the year. We now request that you also stay your subsequent order to capture and remove AF1188 from the wild to a permanent holding facility.

AF1188 is one of six breeding females in a population of less than 60 Mexican wolves. It is essential to preserve breeding females in the wild to support recovery of the species.1

Wolf packs that lose one or more their alpha animals typically disband, which leaves pups and yearlings to strike out on their own and they may likely starve (Creel and Rotella 2010). Wolves, highly sentient beings, suffer emotional trauma from the loss of members of a pack (Mallonee 2011), and in this instance, placing a wild wolf into captivity away from her pack will cause her to suffer as well.

After consultation with a former USDA-Wildlife Services official, we believe the Fish and Wildlife Service will use leg-hold traps to capture AF1188. This creates a crisis for two reasons: wolves captured during the height of summer can die from exposure.

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1 While the Fish and Wildlife Service claims that AF1188 is genetically similar to her mate, it has done nothing to
further genetic diversity within the population; the agency has also not released new lobos into the Blue Range Wolf
Recovery Area in more than 1366 days to diversify the population. Yet, the Service has also not hesitated to remove
multiple wolves from the population in the past.

Second, leghold traps do not discriminate between animals. There is no way to target AF1188 specifically, and her young pups, who are naïve, will most likely will be the subjects caught in traps set out for AF1188 (see e.g., Iossa et al. 2007).

Wolves caught in traps can suffer feet and leg injuries, which can compromise their future ability to course after their swift-moving prey (Iossa et al. 2007). Already, too many Mexican wolves have suffered trapping injuries or death from traps – at the hands of both governmental entities (one mortality in a trap) and non-governmental entities (14 wolves in 15 different trapping incidents with these results: 2 died, 7 sustained injuries, of which 3 had amputation surgeries) (Turnbull et al. 2011).

The Service has ordered the capture and removal of AF1188 because she presumably led her pack to prey upon domestic livestock. But the livestock producer has been compensated for his losses and removing individual wolves from the wild will not resolve future livestock conflicts. Livestock operators should be required to keep livestock away
from the wolf dens and rendezvous sites, and the federal government should retire grazing allotments in Mexican wolf range.

After years of drought in the Southwest, it makes good sense to remove domestic livestock from the range for a myriad of reasons including the fact that cattle consume forage needed by native herbivores – the species preferred by wolves. AF 1188 may have killed four domestic stock animals, but she is only doing what any mother would do in distress: provision for her pups to keep them alive. Through no fault of her own, she has domestic stock in her territory, and those livestock push out native wildlife through forage competition and leave few menu options for hungry wolves.

Please stay your order to remove AF1188 from the wild and immediately implement solutions to prevent future negative wolf-livestock conflicts in the Southwest.

Respectfully requested,

Wendy Keefover, Carnivore Protection Director
WildEarth Guardians

cc:
President Barack Obama
Senator Jeff Bingaman
Senator Tom Udall
Congressman Martin Heinrich
Congressman Ben Ray Luján

Top Photo: Courtesy WildEarth Guardians

Bottom Photo: USFWS

Posted in: Mexican Gray Wolf, Wolf Wars

Tags: Fox Mountain alpha female, keep her wild, no capture, remove cows, WildEarth Guardian

TAKE ACTION: Keep The Fox Mountain Alpha Female Wild…

Mexican Gray Wolf Pups (Lobos of the Southwest)

UPDATE: August 14, 2012

As of today I’m hearing the alpha female of the Fox Mountain Pack is still free.  The concern is are they laying leg hold traps to catch her? This would be a dangerous situation for her  pups or other members of the pack. We don’t need any of the wolves sustaining leg injuries.  I sincerely hope this is not the case and that a solution is being devised to keep this important breeding female wild.  Please keep your phone calls and emails coming.

The following callous statement by “Officials” was reported in the Albuquerque Journal on August 13th, 2012.

‘Calls to Service spokesmen were not returned, but officials have said the wolf is of low genetic value to its species and constitutes a risk to cattle owners.”

That’s the mindset we’re dealing with, pathetic. How about this is a critically endangered wolf mother and CATTLE CONSTITUTE A THREAT TO HER SURVIVAL Get cows out of the wolf recovery area. Retire grazing leases!

Every Mexican gray wolf is important to the recovery of the species!

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We were all relieved to hear the kill order on the Fox Mountain alpha female had been rescinded but disturbed she would be separated from her pups and spend the rest of her life in captivity, never to see her family again.  This is not acceptable. Without this mother present, the Fox Mountain pack could disband leaving the pups orphaned or worse.  It’s not uncommon for this to happen when one of the alphas is lost, either by death or capture. It will put tremendous pressure on the alpha male to keep  his growing family fed.  Wolves are highly social animals so you can imagine how they will react to the loss of their matriarch.

Please keep the phone calls and emails coming. The important contacts  are listed below,  provided by WildEarth Guardians.

Tell them to keep this mother wild and remove the cows from the den site vicinity.  Grazing leases must be retired in the wolves recovery area  to give these animals a fighting chance.

Just a few short years ago wild Mexican gray wolf numbers dropped to dangerous levels due to poaching. Their numbers have climbed back up to an anemic fifty plus but still far below the recovery goal that was  promised by 2006. Here we are six years later still fighting the same forces that want to  stop Mexican gray wolf recovery dead in its tracks. If the pack disbands, the loss will be immeasurable. These wolves are the most endangered animal in North America. Removing a successful breeding female from the wild, over a few cows, is egregious.

FROM WILDEARTH GUARDIANS

Please call the White House, New Mexico Senators Udall and Bingaman, and New Mexico Congressional Representatives Luján and Heinrich now to keep the Fox Mountain mother wolf in the wild, and demand that cattle be restricted from the pack’s den area.

White House (202) 456-1111

Senator Tom Udall (202) 224-6621, (505) 988-6511 or (505) 346-6791

Senator Jeff Bingaman (202) 224-5521 or 1-800-443-8658

Congressman Ben Ray Luján (505) 984-8950 or (202) 225-6190

Congressman Martin Heinrich (505) 346-6781 or (202) 225-6316

Please politely tell them:

• The Fox Mountain pups need their mother and to be left unmolested in the wild of the Apache National Forest. Like any youngster who loses their mother, those pups will suffer, and the mother will suffer in captivity. Removing members from a pack causes trauma for all the pack’s members, and can even cause packs to disband, studies show.

• Fewer than 60 Mexican wolves roam the wild, and the Fox Mountain pack contains one of only six breeding pairs identified. Removing this wolf is biologically harmful and a huge waste of taxpayer money.

• The livestock owner has been compensated for his losses.

• Livestock owners within the territory of the Fox Mountain pack should immediately either temporarily remove all livestock from the vicinity of the pups’ den, or use electric fencing or herders to manage cattle by day, and barns and corrals to secure the animals at night.

http://wg.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=9201.0

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Let’s work to keep this wolf mother wild to raise her puppies, lead her family and continue to  contribute to the important recovery of Mexican gray wolves!!

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This video was taken  in the late seventies. It’s believed to be one of the last wild Mexican gray wolves “captured from northern Mexico before the species went extinct in the wild.”  Click here to read more.

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Photo: Courtesy Lobos of the Southwest

Video: You Tube Courtesy  ricklobello 

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Mexican Gray Wolf

Tags: Mexican gray wolf alpha female, Fox Mountain Pack, New Mexico, USFWS, retire grazing leases,  keep her wild, take action

Bitter Sweet Victory,..Fox Mountain Alpha Female Spared Death But Will Be Removed From The Wild….

The alpha female of the Fox Mountain Pack will be spared a death sentence but is being sent to The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, where she will live in captivity separated from her four pups, who will be left with their father, the alpha male. This will put tremendous pressure on him to hunt and find food for his growing family without his mate by his side.  Will the pack even survive without their matriarch?

No doubt your  phone calls and emails, along with other wolf advocates, decrying the  impending kill order on this critically endangered wolf, was the turning point that led to the compromise. A big thank you to everyone who spoke out but I feel tremendous sadness that a successful and important breeding female will be removed from the wild. The ranchers won because there will be one less Mexican gray wolf roaming free. This mother will never see her pups again. She will spend the rest of her life in captivity and that is not what we want for these animals. But the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center did come to her rescue and we should all be grateful for that. Still the victory is bitter-sweet.

The USFWS must demand the BLM retire grazing leases in the wolf recovery area, to give these animals a fighting chance!!

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Scottsdale wildlife center saves Mexican Gray Wolf from death sentence

Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center

Mexican Gray Wolf

A Mexican Gray Wolf that lives at Scottsdale’s Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.

Posted: Saturday, August 11, 2012 6:17 pm

The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale has saved an alpha female Mexican Gray Wolf that federal fish and wildlife officials had planned to kill.

The mother wolf of four pups was to be shot after killing cattle in New Mexico, but Southwest Wildlife stepped in and offered the wolf a permanent home. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to the arrangement.

According to a news release from Southwest Wildlife, at last official count, there were only 58 Mexican Gray Wolves in the wild, making them one of the most endangered mammals in North America.

On Saturday, the Tribune received numerous letters from people in the Southwest pleading for the wolf to be saved.

The wolf is the alpha female of the Fox Mountain Pack in southwestern New Mexico, and has four puppies. Federal wildlife personnel are attempting to capture her, and Southwest Wildlife staff is awaiting word of whether she has been safely captured.

The puppies will not be taken from the pack, as they will be cared for by their father, Linda Searles, founder and executive director of Southwest Wildlife, said in the release.

On Thursday, federal Fish and Wildlife officials signed an order to shoot the wolf, which was accused of killing too many cows. This is the first time since 2007 that the agency planned to kill a wolf because of predatory attacks on livestock. The rancher who lost the cattle has been compensated, the release said.

Southwest Wildlife serves as a holding facility for the federal Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program.

“We’re happy we could find a solution to this situation, other than killing the animal, because there are so few of these wolves left,” Searles said. “We will continue to work with Fish and Wildlife through the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program to maintain the species, which is an important part of our ecosystem and our Western heritage.”

The Nina Mason Pulliam Foundation will provide funds to construct an enclosure for the female wolf, but donations will also be needed to help Southwest Wildlife provide care. As part of the center, the wolf will help educate children and other visitors about the role different mammals play in our ecosystem and the importance of preserving endangered species.

For more information about Southwest Wildlife, visit http://southwestwildlife.org/.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/the_valley/article_8c748ae6-e41b-11e1-b793-001a4bcf887a.html

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Photo: Mexican Gray Wolf USFWS

Posted in: Mexican Gray Wolf, Wolf Wars

Tags: Fox Mountain alpha female, Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, motherless pups, wild to captive, death order rescinded, Mexican gray wolves, USFWS