New Mexico abandons efforts to restore Mexican gray wolves

New Mexico's Game Commission on Thursday night voted to stop assisting the federal effort to restore Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest, the latest step by new Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's administration to reverse her state's green course.

Martinez appointed four new members to the six-member commission. Its vote is expected to have a mainly symbolic impact in the beleaguered attempt to reintroduce the wolf, which was once endemic to the state before government trapping pushed it to the brink of extinction.

Federal biologists supervising the reintroduction have found less than 50 wolves in both New Mexico and Arizona after the species was returned to the region in the late 1990s. Martinez's Democratic predecessor, Bill Richardson, ordered an end to government trapping of the wolves in 2007.

The state's Fish and Game Department is still required to conduct surveys of the wolves and protect them as an endangered species. The state has spent only $1.9 million on the program since 1999, with most of that paid by the federal government, and dedicated two employees to it.

Ranching groups, who complained the predators damaged their cattle and threatened children, were cheered. “It shows support for the rural industries that are under siege right now," said Laura Schneberger, president of the Gila Livestock Growers Assn. “But I don’t know how it will affect us immediately.”

Environmental groups were outraged. "New Mexico's governor sided with an intransigent, wolf-hating livestock industry," said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Republicans in Congress have separately proposed legislation to end the wolf re-introduction program, following their successful attempts to end federal supervision of the gray wolf in the northern Rockies.

Martinez has made a point of distancing herself from Richardson's environmental record, which she contended hurt business.

Shortly after taking office this winter, Martinez removed all members of an environmental board which formulated rules limiting emissions.  She also overturned regulations that required a 3% cut in industrial greenhouse gas emissions and regulated waste on dairy farms, though the state Supreme Court later overturned those moves, ruling Martinez exceeded her power.

RELATED:

New Mexico's environmental U-turn

Mexican wolves increasing in Southwest

Wolves losing protections in northern Rockies

-- Nicholas Riccardi

Photo: A Mexican gray wolf runs inside a holding pen at wildlife refuge in New Mexico. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[gail keller]

Correction on the website,Wollf has two L's,I spelled it correctly sorry,it was incorrect.

[gail keller]

Go to this website cowboys and cowgirls to get it straight from the horse's mouth."http://www.fws.gov/southwest/docs/41948WolfConservationAssessment4-2010.pdf"

[gail keller]

"The truth is bad enough ,you don't have to lie",so my old uncle used to say.Everything Mr. Carey says is the documented truth,he's on the front line everyday.That is why I said in my previous comment the Arizona-New Mexico border was a very bad choice to initiate this program.I can attest to all he said as fact,I have spent time in Catron County since January,2006.The people of Catron County are hard working,independent and strong willed.They do not deserve the abuse forced upon them by USFWS.Common sense says the time has come to end this program or move it to Big Bend and Old Mexico,where the Mexican Grey wolf belongs.

[Jess Carey]

Living with Mexican Wolves and the Liberal Press

In writing his article, “Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf,” Mr. Walter Rubel does not seem to have researched any of the documented damage caused by Mexican Wolves. It appears his biased article came directly from his personal agenda, rather than the facts. I felt it necessary to provide documented facts concerning the Mexican Wolf.

Catron County has been documenting wolf-human, wolf-animal interactions since April 2006. This year alone, there have been 16 documented confirmed wolf-livestock depredations, 1 probable depredation, and 4 confirmed injuries. However, Mr. Rubel conveniently omits any mention of this serious problem for local family ranchers.

Since 2006 to the present, there have been 140 Wolf-Human incidents and 240 Wolf-Animal incidents, for a total of 380 incidents. Fifty percent of wolf interactions were on private property, indicating Mexican wolves are highly habituated and lack an avoidance response to humans, thereby posing a major threat. Habituated wolves seek out humans and human use areas. They are bold and come to homes where children play. The US Fish and Wildlife Service supplementally feeds the wolves all the time, including right now, causing the wolves to become further habituated by food conditioning.

Bus stop shelters were built with donated materials to protect school children after two children were followed home by wolves after they got off the school bus. Wolves were also documented at the elementary school by the swing set. Sheriff Shawn Menges had deputies on guard during recess while the US Fish and Wildlife Service John Oakleaf tried to trap the un-collared wolf.

Catron County should be commended for taking a proactive stance to mitigate wolf-child interaction. Wolves do not have to bite a child to cause damage. Psychological trauma, ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’ has been documented in our children from wolf interactions at homes. Wolves attacking and killing family pets in front of children is horrific and unacceptable. Wolves were documented 23 times at one home where a 14 year old child lived. How many times would you tolerate a dangerous and threatening predator lurking near your home? I read that when a mountain lion recently moved into El Paso, a nearby school was placed on lockdown, and the animal was immediately shot and killed. Why are residents of Catron County expected to tolerate such danger when no one else will?

The Catron County Commission will not allow our children to be collateral damage in this project. Think about your children: you expect and demand 100% protection for your children where you live, yet the US Fish and Wildlife Service has taken a position to allow habituated wolves near our homes, putting our children in harms way.

A comparability study of wolves denning in calf/yearling core areas show that five family ranchers lost 653 more head of cattle than before the wolf was introduced, with a monetary loss of $381,198.50. Two of the five family ranchers went out of business and had to sell off their ranches. One ranch did not re-stock their ranch in 2010 due to wolf depredation losses. Compensation to family ranchers has been virtually nonexistent and does not reflect the actual losses; there has been no compensation to Catron County government for reduced tax revenues and lost jobs.

Wolf-caused chronic stress in cattle is produced when wolves are killing in a herd. The effects are decreased pregnancy rates-open cows, pre-mature birthed calves, abortion of calves, weak calves, loss of body condition, weight loss, immune suppression, increased susceptibility to disease. These losses are beyond compensation standards and are ignored by the US Fish and Wildlife Service but attribute to major financial losses to family ranchers.

Many of those making our decisions and affecting public opinion have the luxury of living outside of wolf country. Mr. Rubel seems to think that since no children have been attacked or killed, there is no threat. I hope the above information will help people understand the terror we live in. I hope, above all, that our voices will be heard before it is too late to prevent such a horrible outcome.

Jess Carey
Catron County Wolf Investigator
Reserve, New Mexico

[Sandra Holland]

The ranchers (and some farmers) have ruled NM forever...NM should not
be a ranch state...it takes hundreds of acres to feed one cow because most of
NM has only shrub grasses. Ranchers & farmers receive thousands of dollars
per year in subsidies (our tax money). from the state & Washington DC...what other business could demand this from our tax monies?

Join me in a boycot against ranchers.....cancel beef from your diet!

[Lexi Terrell]

Get rid of the cattle barons who use federal land for nothing and get rich on making Americans eat beef and through their ignorance and greed, get high blood pressure and cancer and other diseases we KNOW meat generates. Humans are omnivores, not carnivores. Cattle ranchers are rich, I am not. why should they get cuts on getting their cows fat for free and then having them slaughtered in horrendous conditions which affects the moronic human who eats that meat full of pain, fear and terror? get cattle ranchers off fedral land, leave the wildlife alone and stop catering towards the rich. This country is on the verge of collapse, there will be a revolution, because, personally,I am sick to death of working my ass off and then the fat billionaires don't even PAY taxes.

[gail keller]

I think the New Mexico Game Commission has taken a step in the right direction.The Mexican Grey Wolf program has been a dismal failure and waste of taxpayer money.Now that the Wallow fire has burned the recovery area,the time has come to rethink this fiasco.Big Bend National Park and Old Mexico would be a better home for this program,than the Arizona-New Mexico border.The habitat there would be more of a Yellowstone type habitat ,which would give the program a much better chance for success.While wolf numbers are at their lowest,the time is best for relocation. Stop,take a deep breath,and allow logic and common sense to prevail.I am not against wolves,I am against arrogance,stupidity,and the blatant waste of taxpayer money.

[Heisenberg]

Martinez is a loser.

[Puck]

"The total value of the agriculture sector output
from New Mexico farms and ranches decreased by
12 percent from 3.4 billion in 2008 to $3.0 billion
in 2009. "

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/New_Mexico/Publications/Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/2009/09_09.pdf

New Mexico's 2010 GDP was $75.5 billion. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP)

Gee. The "rural industries" contribute almost 4% to New Mexico's GDP.

[Mir]

Who invented this nonsense about being good to animals and the environment is bad for business? It is a business ready to explode and create massive employment but that might change some of the balance of power with existing businesses...

[Janice]

Bears in are ten to the ten square miles because of environmentalist intervention in game management baby bears have no chance of survival with that many older boars in the area killing the babies. So many young bears are in towns because they are so very pressured by older boars and overpopulated in the forested areas. They are are out of habitat due to drought and lack of food and simply too many bears.

The rural industries do NOT take 90% of NM's water that is just baloney of the first order. Nor do they merely contribute 3% of the GDP.

On the contrary, serious over protection and overgrowth of forests has led to a massive encroachment of woody species that has seriously impacted the groundwater runoff and reservoir and even aquifer storage of water in New Mexico's already dry climates.

This is not industry's fault, this is directly due to mismanagement of the national forest system lands by the 25% of people who are employed as bureaucrats in federal government. And by the fact that pre human there were 5 trees an acre and now there are over 200 trees an acre. See the Wallow fire in AZ and now into NM, the fuel loads are dense.

Environmentalists that protect the wolf at all costs are also responsible for this over protection of the forests.
Ugh, listening to, reading the drivel posted by people who have no idea what it what in my state is just unbelievably tiresome.

But I do agree, this article is not as accurate as it could have been. Bill Richardson never ordered an end to government trapping in 2007. That is just pure D Baloney. He did take money from Non government extremists in his usual pay to play habits and chose to do as much of their will as he could as long as they were contributing to his campaigns.

[John Arenas]

let the wild wolves run. the ranchers should have the right to shoot them, if they are eating cows, sheep or pets, in my opinion. some friends of mine used to have an animal that was part german sheperd and part wolf.
he made a great watchdog , but, too agressive around strangers, we had to give him away. his name was' boch' [ bok].
we were all scared of him because he was very unpredictable and had a feroush bark.
if these wolves are harrassing the animals and have become predators, then i believe the ranchers should have the right to eradicate them.

[Ninong]

Susana Martinez = LOSER!

[Puck]

These "rural industries" take 90% of New Mexico's water while contributing something less than 3% of GDP. Further, New Mexico consistently leads all states in the amount of federal subsidy per tax dollar received (in 2005 it was better than two-to-one).

[Frank Forester]

The proposal in Congress (there's one) is to put the state in charge when the wolf has reached the federal recovery goal. You need to do a little work to report accurately.

[Ian Field]

I'm so sick of the "endangered humans" narrative from the likes of ranchers and hunters. Republicans just love to feed into it - government, environmentalists and their big bad wolves are the reason for all their troubles. No account for the something like 80% government subsidy of the leasing fees vs. cost of maintaining federal "wild" lands for their usage. Welfare queens.

[Lynn]

Sigh. The bears are in a losing battle also in NM. I fear the state is at risk for losing some its most historic and identifiable animals and that just breaks my heart.