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

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Will You?

This post is dedicated to all wolves who’ve suffered and continue to suffer brutal, senseless deaths in the name of blood sport and agribusiness.

The brutal war against America’s wolves wages on?

Will you be silent?

Will you fight for them?

Will you allow this to continue?

Will you organize in your hometown?

Will you hold a protest?

Will you work to end public land grazing?

Will you write letters to the editor?

Will you write to the Infamous 81 US Senators  who voted to delist wolves in the Northern Rockies via budget rider?

Will you tell those Senators you WILL NOT VOTE FOR THEM on November 6 because of their betrayal? 

Will you boycott all wolf states that hold trophy hunts or kill wolves for agribusiness?

Will you boycott Yellowstone National Park to send Wyoming a message?

Will you spread this message to everyone you know?

Will you be a true Wolf Warrior?

Will you?

Minnesota

Minnesota: Court rejects bid to block wolf hunt

Associated Press

Posted:   10/10/2012 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:   10/10/2012 07:26:03 PM CDT

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_21741958/court-rejects-bid-block-minn-wolf-hunt

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Trapped doomed wolf

Wisconsin

Wolf hunt to start Monday

Updated: Thursday, 11 Oct 2012, 5:53 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 11 Oct 2012, 5:53 PM CDT

http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/green_bay/wolf-hunt-to-start-monday

Hearing on use of dogs in wolf hunt will be Dec. 20

By Paul A. Smith of the Journal Sentinel

Oct. 6, 2012

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/outdoors/hearing-on-use-of-dogs-in-wolf-hunt-will-be-dec-20-2q74b6b-172979611.html

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Wisconsin and Minnesota

Wisconsin, Minnesota ready for first wolf hunts

By STEVE KARNOWSKI and TODD RICHMOND | Associated Press – Wed, Oct 10, 2012

http://news.yahoo.com/wisconsin-minnesota-ready-first-wolf-hunts-175306321.html

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Stand up for wolves! This photo made the Los Angeles Times! (Mato Woksabe)

Michigan

Michigan State Representative Proposes Wolf Hunt

by Outdoor Hub Reporters on August 21, 2012

submitted by: Agnieszka Spieszny

http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/michigan-state-representative-proposes-wolf-hunt/

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Fox Mountain wolf pups 2008 (Mexican Wolf Inter-agency Field Team)

New Mexico

Wanted Mexican gray wolf on the run in NM captured

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS Associated Press

Updated:   10/10/2012 07:14:31 PM MDT

http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_21747896/gov-martinez-relocate-mexican-gray-wolf-pack

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Gov. Martinez: Relocate Mexican gray wolf pack

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS Associated Press

Posted:   10/11/2012 03:05:16 AM MDT

http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_21747896/gov-martinez-relocate-mexican-gray-wolf-pack

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This is the hate wolves face

Montana

On the hunt in wolf country: Expanded Montana season begins Monday

7:13 AM, Oct 11, 2012

 http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20121011/LIFESTYLE05/310110010/On-hunt-wolf-country-Expanded-Montana-season-begins-Monday

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Wolf trapped waiting to die

Idaho

Idaho’s wolf hunt season now open all year

By Kimberlee Kruesi

The Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho) staff

Sun, 07/22/2012 – 8:23am

http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/07/22/idaho-s-wolf-hunt-season-now-open-all-year

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Senseless Slaughter

Wyoming

Wolves in Wyoming Go from Endangered to Hunted

http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/news/national-news/38301-wolves-in-wyoming-go-from-endangered-to-hunted

Open Season in Wyoming Threatens Wolf Recovery

08 OCTOBER 2012, 8:56 AM

http://earthjustice.org/blog/2012-october/open-season-in-wyoming-threatens-wolf-recovery

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USFWS

Feds opt not to extend special protection to Mexican gray wolf

Posted Oct 11, 2012, 11:37 pm

Cale OttensCronkite News Service

http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/101112_mexican_gray_wolf/feds-opt-not-extend-special-protection-mexican-gray-wolf/

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Wedge Pack alpha male being collared, the collar allowed sharpshooters to find and kill his pack .  Then they shot and killed him.

Washington

Killing entire wolf pack is in nobody’s best interests

Published: October 12, 2012

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/10/12/2725979/killing-entire-wolf-pack-is-in.html

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Oregon Weneha wolf killed by poacher

Oregon 

Court Stays Execution of Two Oregon Wolves

SALEM, ORE Oct 06, 2011

http://www.oregonwild.org/about/press-room/press-releases/court-stays-execution-of-two-oregon-wolves/?searchterm=imnaha

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California

Journey In California, The First Wolf  Confirmed In The State Since the 1920’s

And then there’s Journey (OR-7). The One Bright Spot In This Miserable War On America’s Wolves

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oregon Wild Talks Wolves On AM Northwest

Wildlife and Wildlands Advocate Rob Klavins stopped by KATU-TV’s AM Northwest to talk about Journey and Oregon’s wolves.

http://www.oregonwild.org/about/press-room/press-releases/oregon-wild-talks-wolves-on-am-northwest

Calif. agrees to study protections for gray wolf

JASON DEAREN, Associated Press

Updated 5:35 p.m., Wednesday, October 3, 2012

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Calif-agrees-to-study-protections-for-gray-wolf-3917467.php#ixzz29AmZ5vLU

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Photos: Photobucket, USFWS, ODFW, Wolf Wallpaper, Flickr Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Idaho wolves, Montana wolves, Wyoming wolves, Minnesota wolves, Wisconsin Wolves, Michigan wolves, Oregon wolves, Washington wolves, California wolf

Tags: Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Mexican gray wolf, Fox Mountain alpha captured, Fox Mountain pack, Wenaha Pack wolf poached,  wolf trapping torture,  OR-7, retire grazing leases, stop killing wolves, Wedge Pack gone, Wyoming predator zone, boycott wolf killing states, Imnaha Pack

Wild Mexican Gray Wolf Pups (USFWS)

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

The Wolf That Changed America, The Story of Lobo & Blanca..

Lobo and Blanca of the Currumpaw Pack (Published 1889)

“Ever since Lobo”, Seton later wrote, “my sincerest wish has been to impress upon people that each of our native wild creatures is in itself a precious heritage that we have no right to destroy or put beyond the reach of our children.”

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LOBO KING OF THE CURRUMPAW

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobo_the_King_of_Currumpaw

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Video: Courtesy Nature Channel

Posted in: Gray Wolf, Wolf Wars

Tags: Ernest Thompson Seton, Lobo, Blanca, iconic wolves, wolf trapper, Seton’s epiphany, Currumpaw, New Mexico

Gray Wolves Under Siege, Especially Mexican Grays!!

Gray wolves are under siege and the most vulnerable population, struggling for survival, are the Mexican gray wolves. They’ve been decimated by poachers this year.  Their Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area is teaming with cattle. It’s heartbreaking.

A letter to the editor of the Azdailysun.com,  by the Director of the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, pretty much says it all.

Arizona’s wolves need a break 

Posted: Monday, December 20, 2010 5:00 am

http://www.azdailysun.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_e4c06f4c-5007-58dc-9d10-d46d6a74a7e0.html

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2010 A Deadly Year for Mexican Grays:

Poachers Beneath Contempt: ANOTHER Mexican Gray Wolf Found DEAD!!

July 16, 2010

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/poachers-beneath-contempt-another-mexican-gray-wolf-found-dead/

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Poachers Tracking Mexican Grays With Radio Receivers?

July 17, 2010

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/poachers-tracking-mexican-grays-with-radio-receivers/

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Poachers take out another of the rarest wolves in the world: Lobo poached

July 19th 2010

http://www.examiner.com/green-living-in-national/poachers-take-out-another-of-the-rarest-wolves-the-world-lobo-poached

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Reward Offered in Another Endangered Mexican Wolf Killing

Third wolf found dead in region this summer

July 30, 2010

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/07/reward_in_wolf_killing_073010.html

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Arizona Tribe Offers Tours to See the Endangered Mexican Gray Wolves Ranchers Are Poaching

http://animaltourism.com/news/2010/07/19/graywol

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Another Tragic Loss for Mexican Gray Wolves, Something MUST Be Done!!

October 27, 2010

https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/another-tragic-loss-for-mexican-gray-wolves-something-must-be-done/ 

 

 

Top Photo: Courtesy of the Spanish language Wikipedia

Bottom Photo: kewlwallpapers.com

Posted in: Mexican gray wolf, Wolf Wars

Tags: gray wolf, canis lupus bailey, Endangered Species, Arizona,  New Mexico

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Suspends Trapping in Wolf Recovery Area

Middle Fork Pack alphas both  missing their front legs, Alpha male AM871 lost his limb to a leg hold trap.

What a breath of fresh air. Positive wolf news for a change.  Governor Bill Richardson has suspended trapping on the NM side of the wolf recovery area for six months.  He wants to know what effect trapping has on the highly endangered Mexican gray wolf population and has ordered New Mexico Fish and Game to study the issue.

Actually they don’t have to do a study, I can tell you trapping is devastating to all animals, including gray wolves. The alpha male of the Middle Fork pack lost his front leg to a trap. He and his mate are both missing their front legs. The alpha female lost her front leg to a bullet.

Even though this is a suspension for six months and not a permanent ban it certainly is a step in the right direction. We need to get traps and snares off all public lands. 

I commend the Governor for doing something pro-active for wolves. We should write and thank him for his efforts.

Contact Governor Bill Richardson:

http://www.governor.state.nm.us/email.php?mm=6&type=opinion

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NM governor suspends trapping in wolf area

Associated Press – July 28, 2010 4:55 PM ET

http://www.kwes.com/global/story.asp?s=12885938

 

Photos: Courtesy USFWS

Posted in: Mexican gray wolf

Tags: trapping suspension, New Mexico, traps and snares, Governor Bill Richardson

 

Mexican Gray Wolves On The Brink!

July 4, 2010

As I reported previously, three Mexican gray wolves are dead or missing.

The Hawks Nest alpha male was discovered shot to death on June 18 in eastern Arizona. The Hawks Nest pack was one of just two packs who had a surviving pup at the end of 2009. To add to the tragedy, last week the alpha male of the San Mateo pack in New Mexico was found dead under a cloud of suspicion. And the alpha male of the Paradise Pack, who roamed the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, has been missing since the middle of April.

The Hawks Nest Pack is believed to have seven pups, now fatherless. The other two packs were observed denning, so they probably have pups. Both the Paradise and San Mateo packs are down to just one adult, the alpha female and any pups she may have. Now they are alone with  no other wolves to help them.

A captive Mexican gray wolf pup is held by a keeper to be weighed

at the Endangered  Wolf Center in St. Louis.

 

This pup is one of  five eight week old pups, four boys and one girl.  Will they survive in the wild?  

Photo Courtesy: Tom Gannam / Associated Press

Mexican gray wolves are the most endangered mammals in North America, with only 14 wolves in New Mexico and now just 25 wolves in Arizona.

From Lobos of the Southwest:

“The Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area is the Gila National Forest in New Mexico and the Apache National Forest in Arizona and part of New Mexico—comprising 4.4 million acres (twice the size of Yellowstone National Park), which support an extraordinary array of wildlife and vegetation types. In addition, the White Mountain Apache Tribe has welcomed wolves onto its 1.67-million-acre reservation in Arizona adjoining the national forest.”

This sad little tale has been going on since the late seventies, when a captive breeding program was started because the Mexican gray wolf was technically extinct in the wild, the result of a hundred years of persecution.The Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan was adopted in 1982.

In 1998 captive born wolves were released into Arizona and New Mexico. Before reintroduction began the US Fish and Wildlife Service projected 102 wolves, including 18 breeding pairs, would be thriving on their historical range by 2006, with numbers expected to rise thereafter. That was four years ago and twelve years have gone by since their release. Not only are there not 100 Mexican gray wolves in the wild but there now are only 39, deducting the recent losses.

The three legged alphas of the highly endangered Middle Fork Pack  are up against a sea of cattle in the Gila National Forest.

Middle Fork three-legged alphas

Both alphas lost their left front legs. Alpha female AF861, leg was shot to bits, that case is still being investigated. Alpha male AM871 lost his limb to a leg hold trap. Despite their handicaps they were still able to hunt and raise pups!!   

Many of the cows in the Gila belong to the Adobe/Slash Ranch, which is owned by a Mexican businessman. 

One of their ranch hands was actually caughtbaiting wolves, to get them in trouble and cause the three strikes rule to kick in. 

Finally in 2009 the  USFWS  Settled a lawsuit:

“brought by conservation organizations, the Fish and Wildlife Service reasserted its authority over a multiagency management team and scrapped a controversial wolf “control” rule that required permanently removing a wolf from the wild, either lethally or through capture, after killing three livestock in a year. Conservationists had criticized the rigid policy, known as Standard Operating Procedure 13 or SOP 13, for forcing wolves to be killed or sent to captivity regardless of an individual wolf’s genetic importance, dependent pups or the critically low numbers of wolves in the wild.”

Since the three strikes rule was scrapped it looked like the beleaguered wolves would have a fighting chance to start their long-awaited recovery. That was until they counted them in 2009.  Their numbers plummeted from 52 to 42 wolves. Ten wolves lost, two confirmed shot and six more likely shot.

“The decline is “tremendously disconcerting and very disturbing,” said Benjamin Tuggle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional director for the Southwest.

An unusually poor survival rate among wolf pups appeared to play a key role in last year’s population decline, officials indicated. Thirty-one pups were born last year in seven wolf packs. Seven survived, the wildlife service said.”

Two wolves were confirmed to have been shot to death last year. Tuggle said he is not ruling out the possibility that the other six dead wolves were shot. Those deaths are under law enforcement investigation.

“USFWS relies on captive wolves being reintroducedand pup survival to maintain or increase the population. With the loss of four pups to probable poaching. a poor pup survival rate and no reintroductions in 2009, the wolf population declined significantly.”

I think it’s safe to assume the other six wolves were the victims of foul play. There is tremendous intolerance for wolves in the Southwest.  Big surprise. The same attitudes that plague wolves here in the Northern Rockies are mirrored there.

How pathetic, in the expanse of Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, which encompasses the Gila and Apache National Forests, over 4.4 million acres, there isn’t a place for 39 wolves, much less a hundred? There’s plenty of room for cattle though. And that’s the problem.

Michael Robinson of  the Center for Biological Diversity states: 

“Lackadaisical Forest Service management, severe grazing during drought, trespass stock, and scattered carcasses of cattle that died of non-wolf causes which draw wolves in to scavenge, all guarantee continued conflicts between wolves and livestock,” pointed out Robinson.

“Preventing conflicts with livestock on the national forests makes more sense than scapegoating endangered wolves once conflicts begin,” said Robinson.”

The Beaverhead area has a history of wolves scavenging on carcasses of cattle that they had not killed, and then subsequently beginning to hunt live cattle. This spring, the Center for Biological Diversity documented sixteen dead cattle, none of them with any signs of wolf predation, within a few miles of the Middle Fork’s den site.

Independent scientists have repeatedly recommended that owners of livestock using the public lands be required to remove or render unpalatable (as by lime, for example) the carcasses of cattle and horses that die of non-wolf causes — such as starvation, disease or poisonous weeds — before wolves scavenge on them and then switch from preying on elk to livestock. No such requirements have been implemented.”

USFWS better figure out how to help these animals survive before they go extinct in the wild AGAIN!  Every single wolf is a national treasure to be protected. USFWS needs to aggressively go after the low life poachers, slapping them with long jail sentences and huge fines. Otherwise it will be business as usual, wolves shot and killed and their killers walking free. If those pathetic excuses for human beings think they can shoot a wolf and get away with it, what incentive do they have to stop?

Aside from the cretin poachers, until recently it was the USFWS themselves that was getting in the way of wolf recovery, with their heavy-handed “wolf management” measures, that got many wolves killed over livestock. The USFWS killed 151 Mexican gray wolves since their reintroduction, including over 20 puppies. That is simply outrageous.

Here are the grim statistics of Mexican gray wolves killed by USFWS since 1998.

Mexican wolf management removals from the Blue Range Population, Arizona and New Mexico, 1998-2010.

http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/pdf/MW_removals.pdf

If those wolves were alive today, what a difference it could have made in Mexican gray wolf recovery. We might be at 100 wolves instead of 39.

Lobos of the Southwest states:

“Wolves have done what is needed to thrive in the wild: They have formed packs, had pups and successfully hunted elk and deer.

Unfortunately, the recovery effort has failed to reach the first reintroduction objective of at least 100 wolves in the wild. Until recently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s aggressive wolf “control” measures repeatedly knocked the population down. The wild population of Mexican gray wolves has declined over the past five years, and at the end of 2008, only about 50 wolves lived in the wilds of the Southwest. The wild population was lower at the beginning of 2009 than it was at the end of 2003.”

Time is running out for wolves in the Southwest. The loss of the three alpha males is beyond measure. The Hawks Nest pack have seven pups and the Paradise and San Mateo packs are believed to have pups. The poachers disrupted the social structure of three wolf packs who may never be the same again. Even though USFWS is supplementing the diet of the San Mateo and Paradise Packs, losing their fathers is a huge blow. You can hardly call them packs anymore. It’s just the alpha females alone with their puppies.

It’s obvious drastic measure need to be taken. Even though the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area is prime wolf habitat, most of the land is heavily grazed by cattle.

Many Southwest ranchers don’t want wolves or any predators around for that matter. USFWS should think about moving or widening the wolves range to a more wolf friendly environment.

Why not expand the wolves recovery area outside the Gila and Apache National Forests to Grand Canyon National Parkfor starters? Or start retiring grazing leases.

It’s ridiculous cattle are causing wolves to die, especially since 94% of the Blue Range Recovery Area is public land.

The status quo won’t cut it anymore. The wolves have been struggling ever since their reintroduction in 1998. It’s going to take a major effort by Fish and Wildlife to protect these wolves and allow them to finally make their long-awaited recovery. Poaching has to be stopped. Hopefully the $50,000 reward will be enough to rat out the killer!!

Please contact:

US Department of the Interior
http://www.doi.gov/public/contact-us.cfm

USFWS Mexican Wolf Recovery Program
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/comments_form.html

Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/

New Mexico Department of Fish and Game
http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/contact/index.htm

Arizona Fish and Game Dept.
http://www.azgfd.gov/comments.shtml

From Lobos of the Southwest:

Editors in Arizona and New Mexico

Regional/National

http://www.mexicanwolves.org/index.php?page=letters-to-editors

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Upper Photo: Courtesy National Geographic

Middle Fork Pack Photos: Courtesy USFWS

Posted in: Mexican gray wolves,  gray wolf/canis lupus

Tags: Hawks Nest Pack, critically endangered species, Paradise Pack,  San Mateo Pack, Arizona, New Mexico, low life poachers,  $50,000 reward

Some hope:

Five new Mexican gray wolf pups at St. Louis facility represent new hope for their species

July 1, 2010

 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/07/five-new-mexican-gray-wolf-pups-at-st-louis-facility-represent-new-hope-for-their-species.html