ABQjournal: Traps Are Set for Wayward Wolves
By Tania Soussan, Journal Staff Writer
Traps are set for wolves that have twice chosen to make their home in the San Mateo Mountains — apparently good wolf habitat, but outside the official boundaries of where wolves are allowed.
The endangered Mexican gray wolves will be recaptured and removed from the mountains southwest of Socorro, where they have been living since last October without killing livestock or causing other problems.
The interagency wolf reintroduction program allows wolves to set up territories only within the boundaries of a federally designated recovery area. The San Mateo pair is outside that area.
“The only thing they’re guilty of is walking across an arbitrarily drawn boundary,” said Craig Miller of Defenders of Wildlife. …
The pair was first captured from the San Mateos last August. They were re-released in the Gila Wilderness in October but soon returned to the San Mateos.
“They seem to have settled in over there and they’re making a living off deer,” Williams said. “They seem to like it in the San Mateos.”
The current problem with the pair highlights a years-long controversy over the boundary rule. An independent team of scientists and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s own biologists have recommended changing it. …
Miller said the agency is emphasizing politics over biology and is catering to the livestock industry.
Moving wolves is traumatic, especially during the denning season, Miller said.
The female is likely to be pregnant but not to have denned yet, said Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Vicki Fox.
Once caught, the wolves will be returned to captivity and possibly released later near the opposite end of the recovery area in Arizona.
Meanwhile, the reintroduction team plans to release a separate pair of wolves in the Gila Wilderness this spring to make up for the loss of a breeding pair in the wild and to increase genetic diversity.
There are about 50 Mexican gray wolves free in Arizona and New Mexico.
The San Mateos seem great wolf territory. Ranchers should not have veto power over public lands. mjh
San Mateo Mountains, New Mexico — Photos
August, 2004