This
summer the federal government plans to release Mexican gray wolf pups
bred in captivity directly into New Mexico for the first time – part of
what it says is an effort to encourage the endangered lobo’s recovery –
if the state grants permission.
Wolves have been bred in captivity in New Mexico for years
but then released in Arizona, where some eventually were captured for
one of various reasons and then relocated to New Mexico.
But a new management rule that took effect in February
permits the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to introduce “new” wolves, or
those bred in captivity, directly into the New Mexico wild – a critical
step, advocates say, toward improving the genetics of the population.
Wolf advocates say they are concerned about the fate of
permit requests by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pending before the
New Mexico Game and Fish Department to release new wolves. They say the
department’s governor-appointed commission took a swipe at the recovery
program last week when it denied Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch a permit to
host wolves on its property in New Mexico. It had been doing so for 17
years.
Mike Phillips, director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, told the Journal
last week that the Game and Fish Commission took no issue with how the
Ladder Ranch has been run but expressed opposition to the federal wolf
recovery program “as currently constituted.”
On Friday, dozens of wolf advocacy groups from California to
New York signed a letter to Gov. Susana Martinez asking her to reverse
that decision, which they say could complicate the federal government’s
work in reintroducing wolves to their native landscape.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service historically has used
large pens at the Ladder Ranch as way stations for Mexican wolves being
introduced to, or pulled from, the wild ever since the reintroduction
program began in 1998.
The commission’s denial of the Turner permit “takes away a
tool” for wolf recovery, said Eva Sargent, director of the Southwest
Program at Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group. “If the
department were to start to deny permits to release wolves, that would
imperil the program.”
The Game and Fish Department confirmed it is reviewing
requests by the FWS to release into the Gila wilderness a pair of wolves
and their pups, and to import and release up to 10 wolves into New
Mexico. Department Director Alexa Sandoval is charged with making a
determination.
Game and Fish told the Journal in an emailed response to questions that it is reviewing information and “there is not a set time frame for a response.”
The FWS told the Journal in an emailed
response to questions that the permit requests to import and release up
to 10 wolves “are for pups less than two weeks old that may be born at a
captive facility elsewhere, and brought into the state to release into a
wild den,” a practice known as cross-fostering.
This
is one of the Mexican gray wolves that have spent time in pens at Ted
Turner’s Ladder Ranch. A recent state denial of a permit for the ranch
to continue using the pens would hurt the wolf recovery effort,
according to advocates. (Richard Pipes/Albuquerque Journal)
There are 109 Mexican gray wolves in the wild, according to the FWS’ latest count.
Advocates say releases of new wolves into the wild is
critical to the reintroduction program, due to the lack of genetic
diversity in a population that was bred over the past four decades from
just seven wolves.
Asked whether the FWS needs state approval to release wolves
onto federal public land, the FWS said it has “federal statutory
responsibility to recover Mexican wolves” but added, “We are most
effective when partnering with the states.”
“Our desire is to work with the state toward the recovery of
the Mexican wolf, which will eventually lead to state management of the
species,” the FWS said.
New Mexico’s Game and Fish Department is funded in large
part by $20 million in hunting, trapping and fishing licenses sold
annually. Its mission is “to conserve wildlife and provide recreational
opportunities that benefit everyone,” according to its website.
Laura Schneberger, a rancher in Sierra County and president
of the Gila Livestock Growers Association, said she supported the Game
and Fish Commission’s decision to deny the Turner permit, given how “the
Fish and Wildlife Service has run roughshod over the state and the
people who are dealing with the wolves.”
“That’s why the state is strong-arming them on this issue,”
she said. “I don’t think that’s asking too much, especially considering
the damage that is being done.”
Many ranchers in the state oppose the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program on grounds that wolves target their livestock.
The new wolf management rule expanded the territory where
Mexican gray wolves can roam in New Mexico from south of I-40 to the
Mexican border, and broadened where the FWS can introduce “new” wolves
to include federal lands in New Mexico.
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