ABQjournal: 12-Wolf Pack Is Down to Two By Tania Soussan
Copyright © 2006 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer
The Southwest’s 12-member Hon Dah Pack of endangered Mexican gray wolves was down to just two Wednesday after a sharpshooter killed one, six pups were killed by another wolf and others died following capture.
“The loss of these wolves is a blow to the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program and everyone who is working to recover wolves in the Southwest,” said Benjamin Tuggle, acting Southwest regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. …
The wolves were targeted for permanent removal from the wild last month after being found responsible for seven confirmed and four probable livestock depredations on tribal lands since last June 7. Arizona’s White Mountain Apache tribe asked for their removal. … The alpha male was shot about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning by a tribal member of the wolf reintroduction program field team.[mjh: so much for Brother Wolf and living in harmony with everything.]
The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates there are 32 to 46 wolves and an unknown number of pups in the wild in New Mexico and Arizona. The number is far fewer than the federal endangered species reintroduction program had expected to have now.
Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity in an interview called the deaths “an atrocity” and said a moratorium on wolf killings and trappings is needed. “The Mexican wolf is facing an emergency,” he said.
The Hon Dah Pack included two adults, three yearlings and seven 4-week-old pups.