ABQjournal: Federal Agent Kills Endangered Wolf
Journal Staff Report
LAS CRUCES— A federal predator control agent riding in a small plane Friday fatally shot a Mexican gray wolf from the Saddle Pack on the edge of the Gila Wilderness.
The shooting, carried out pursuant to a Feb. 24 permanent removal order, marked the second time this year federal agents have killed an endangered Mexican gray wolf, and the seventh authorized kill since January 2006.
About 58 Mexican wolves are left in the recovery area of southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico, where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began reintroducing the species in 1998.
The wolf killed Friday— a two-year-old male designated M1007— was targeted because of a management protocol that calls for removal of wolves that have preyed on livestock in three cases in one year.
Albuquerque-based John Morgart, the wolf recovery program coordinator, said wildlife officials hope killing the wolf will discourage other members of the pack from preying on livestock.
[mjh: are these officials really stupid enough to believe the wolves will see the connection?]
In answer to your ending question, I guess it’s just one more example of the trickle down effect that begins at the highest levels of government these days.
comment #1:
no more ridiculous, i’d wager, than dumping predators near large stockpiles of undead t-bone, porterhouse, and ribeye and supposing they won’t dine copiously.
comment #2:
i bet dubya pronounces them, “woofs”.