The Republic | azcentral.com
Tue Jun 4, 2013
Those who continue to peddle scary stories and post signs
urging people to “beware” of endangered Mexican gray wolves haven’t
looked at the numbers.
Since 1998, when wolves were reintroduced to the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, 46 of the rare animals have been illegally shot, 17 died of natural causes, 14 died in vehicle collisions, 12 were killed by government agents and four died in capture-related incidents or legal public shootings. The fate of nine is unknown, and two dead animals are awaiting necropsy.
Only 75 were left at the end of 2012.
Beware the people. Not the wolves. A few people.
Environmentalists who track such things say ranchers who support or tolerate the reintroduction process exist. But they don’t grab the microphones.
Public-land ranchers with an entitlement mentality are big wolf opponents. Their position is out of sync with reality.
After all, most Western ranchers rely on public-land leases to graze their cattle. As anybody who has ever rented an apartment can tell you, a lease is not a deed of ownership.
The public owns the public lands. Those lands are meant to support a variety of uses. Grazing is one use.
Here’s another: Federal law makes preserving and restoring endangered species a national value.
If achieving a healthy population of wolves proves inconvenient for public-land ranchers, it might be time to rethink those grazing leases.
The wolf-recovery program is not the problem. But it has problems.
Big ones.
The number of wolves in the recovery area remains well below expectations, and the genetic diversity of wolves in captivity has not been maximized because too few animals are being released into the wild.
In April, for the first time in more than four years, a captive-bred pair of Mexican wolves were released in Arizona. Another pair were released in New Mexico, but Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity says the male is already back in captivity.
Public-land ranchers continue to make this program so controversial that it’s easier for federal bureaucrats not to pursue vigorous recovery efforts on behalf of an animal brought to the brink of extinction at the behest of ranchers years ago.
The 1982 Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan has not been updated. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earned another “Procrastinator’s Award” when it — once again — failed to produce a promised revision.
Robinson, who is based near the wolf-recovery area in New Mexico, says Fish and Wildlife has lost track of some the telemetry receivers it lent to ranchers so they could keep track of radio-collared wolves. With so many endangered wolves being illegally shot, that’s just nuts.
In a recent story by Arizona Republic reporter Brandon Loomis, rancher John Hand opined that he’d “probably shoot” wolves on his ranch, which includes public land.
Your land.
This kind of entitlement attitude by ranchers should not be allowed to doom wolf-recovery efforts.
Enter the environmental groups, armed with lawsuits to make the feds do their job.
That’s the hard way, but as long as the land-management agencies act scared of the big, bad ranchers, it’s the only way to ensure wolves have a chance.
source
Since 1998, when wolves were reintroduced to the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, 46 of the rare animals have been illegally shot, 17 died of natural causes, 14 died in vehicle collisions, 12 were killed by government agents and four died in capture-related incidents or legal public shootings. The fate of nine is unknown, and two dead animals are awaiting necropsy.
Only 75 were left at the end of 2012.
Beware the people. Not the wolves. A few people.
Environmentalists who track such things say ranchers who support or tolerate the reintroduction process exist. But they don’t grab the microphones.
Public-land ranchers with an entitlement mentality are big wolf opponents. Their position is out of sync with reality.
After all, most Western ranchers rely on public-land leases to graze their cattle. As anybody who has ever rented an apartment can tell you, a lease is not a deed of ownership.
The public owns the public lands. Those lands are meant to support a variety of uses. Grazing is one use.
Here’s another: Federal law makes preserving and restoring endangered species a national value.
If achieving a healthy population of wolves proves inconvenient for public-land ranchers, it might be time to rethink those grazing leases.
The wolf-recovery program is not the problem. But it has problems.
Big ones.
The number of wolves in the recovery area remains well below expectations, and the genetic diversity of wolves in captivity has not been maximized because too few animals are being released into the wild.
In April, for the first time in more than four years, a captive-bred pair of Mexican wolves were released in Arizona. Another pair were released in New Mexico, but Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity says the male is already back in captivity.
Public-land ranchers continue to make this program so controversial that it’s easier for federal bureaucrats not to pursue vigorous recovery efforts on behalf of an animal brought to the brink of extinction at the behest of ranchers years ago.
The 1982 Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan has not been updated. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earned another “Procrastinator’s Award” when it — once again — failed to produce a promised revision.
Robinson, who is based near the wolf-recovery area in New Mexico, says Fish and Wildlife has lost track of some the telemetry receivers it lent to ranchers so they could keep track of radio-collared wolves. With so many endangered wolves being illegally shot, that’s just nuts.
In a recent story by Arizona Republic reporter Brandon Loomis, rancher John Hand opined that he’d “probably shoot” wolves on his ranch, which includes public land.
Your land.
This kind of entitlement attitude by ranchers should not be allowed to doom wolf-recovery efforts.
Enter the environmental groups, armed with lawsuits to make the feds do their job.
That’s the hard way, but as long as the land-management agencies act scared of the big, bad ranchers, it’s the only way to ensure wolves have a chance.
source
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