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.â€
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.