County Not To Trap Wolf

By RENE ROMO Journal Southern Bureau

LAS CRUCES — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has warned Catron County not to carry out a plan to trap an endangered Mexican gray wolf that county officials contend is a danger to residents.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, the lead agency overseeing the 9- year-old wolf recovery program in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, dispatched law enforcement agents to Catron County on Friday to monitor the situation, said agency spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown.

In a letter Wednesday to Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Catron County Commission Chairman Ed Wehrheim wrote that the county’s wolf investigator was to be dispatched Friday to a ranch in the Gila National Forest to trap the alpha male, AM973, of the Durango pack.

“It is the moral and legal responsibility of the Catron County Commission, first and foremost, to protect the safety, health and welfare of the residents of Catron County,” Wehrheim wrote.

He could not be reached for comment Friday on whether the investigator had been sent to the ranch.

Catron County officials, outspoken opponents of the wolf reintroduction effort, maintain that under a local ordinance passed last February, they have the right to remove wolves deemed a threat to residents.

Wehrheim said the county has three videos of wolves in a residential yard. The county wolf investigator says the wolf was near homes 28 times.

In a letter responding to Wehrheim’s letter, Tuggle warned that any effort by the county to capture AM973 would be a violation of federal law and that those responsible could be subject to both criminal and civil penalties.

Slown said no one disputes the Durango pack “has been hanging around” a residence, but the Fish and Wildlife Service wants to continue with a program of hazing the wolf to condition it to avoid the residence. The hazing effort began Oct. 19.

A federal Wildlife Services employee shot and killed the Durango pack male’s former mate, AF924, on July 5, leaving behind several pups.

The pack now consists of the alpha male and a single pup, who have recently been joined by an adult female wolf. Signals from the adult wolves’ collars have not been detected by radio over the last week, Slown said.

(c) 2007 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.