Robert Espinosa shames his namesake in a column in today’s Albuquerque Journal. Leave aside his petty swipes at “fairies” and his conflation of wolf reintroduction with wildfires. Focus on his profound ignorance of the role of predators other than man in promoting healthy ecosystems. If Espinosa is a hunter who puts down his beer and gets out of his truck before shooting, then he should appreciate the hunt he’ll get from prey kept on its toes by wolves. It seems he’d prefer the situation found around the country where deer and elk are so over-abundant they are a nuisance.

By the way, Bobby, overgrazing of our forests removes grasses that play a critical role in the flash fires that keep down the larger burns. So, wolves help prevent forest fires.

Finally, Espinosa feels he is being treated as an “invasive species,” yet he ridicules those who see things differently and pointedly rejects those of us who enter wildlands for reasons other than to kill, destroy, or extract.

[The Journal provides some counterpoint from a biologist who doesn’t sound like a fairy-dancing religious naturologist.]

ABQJournal Online » State Has Wasted Money On Wolves Long Enough

By Robert Espinoza / Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife New Mexico on Wed, Jun 15, 2011

For 13 years now, the state of New Mexico has been an active and willing participant with the federal government in the effort to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf to the region.

At best, the program has been a distraction from sound land management. At worst, it has been a financial boondoggle, a safety issue and a travesty as a portion of hunters’ fees have gone to fund a program intended to further reduce game opportunities by nurturing populations of this predator.

…fairy tale dance with wolf advocates. These advocates have made the wolf an almost religious idol and seem to regard hunters and ranchers as interlopers into their own private cathedral. In truth, nobody cares more about true environmental conservation and sound land management practices than sportsmen, ranchers and outfitters. …

The sooner the federal government stops giving disproportionate credence to the “naturology” of wolf worshippers and quits treating the rest of us like an “invasive species,” the better.

At the New Mexico Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, we believe people belong, whether for hunting and fishing or ranching – or logging – or other parts of the core historical culture of our communities.

ABQJournal Online » State Has Wasted Money On Wolves Long Enough

ABQJournal Online » State Shows Disrespect For Planet and Future

By Joseph Cook / Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico on Wed, Jun 15, 2011

We know that top predators are essential to healthy ecosystems. When top predators are removed, a cascade of other losses often follows.

We also know that the Mexican gray wolf is the most distinctive form of wolf in North America and is globally significant because it harbors highly distinctive genes. We further know that, contrary to the bluster of a few politicians and shock jocks, wolves and humans can coexist.

ABQJournal Online » State Shows Disrespect For Planet and Future

I agree with the Albuquerque Journal’s editorial that it was unnecessary and inhumane to kill the wolf-dog hybrid pups found in the wild. However, the Journal is disingenuous – and knee-jerk conservative – to blame “bureaucratic guidelines.” The fact is that the minority opponents of wolf restoration first used genetic purity as an argument against reintroduction, as the Journal surely recalls. These wolves were slaughtered to please wolf opponents, as every wolf death does, no matter how needless or cruel.

As long as I’m countering spin, let me assure Catron County Commissioner Ben Griffin that wolf opponents do NOT have the support of the state of New Mexico, as polls clearly indicate. He merely has the support of our conservative governor. The pendulum swings.

Finally, the wolf population is approximately 50, while the goal years ago had been 100. The wolf killers continue to win and to treat public lands as their own fiefdoms while giving the finger to the majority. The blood-thirsty beasts in the forest walk on two legs.

ABQJournal Online » Editorial: Killing Wolf Hybrids An Inhumane Solution

It’s likely the public would also disapprove of a tragically misguided effort at genetic purity that amounts to killing puppies to meet bureaucratic guidelines.

ABQJournal Online » Editorial: Killing Wolf Hybrids An Inhumane Solution

ABQJournal Online » State Pulling Out of Wolf Program

“It means a lot to Catron County,” said Catron County Commissioner Ben Griffin. “It’s not stopping the program, but we have the support of the state of New Mexico, which we have not had in the past.”

Laura Schneberger, president of the Gila Livestock Growers Association, said the board’s policy change was “good for morale, that’s for sure.” …

[A] 2008 Research & Polling survey that showed 69 percent of New Mexicans either strongly supported or somewhat supported the reintroduction program. Lobos were first released into southeast Arizona in 1998, and the population in Arizona and New Mexico reached 50 at the end of last year, with six packs and two lone wolves in this state.

ABQJournal Online » State Pulling Out of Wolf Program