Posted on 12/21/2011 4:57:03 PM PST by girlangler
The recent killing of an aggressive Mexican gray wolf by federal agents at a ranch near Winston could lead to a reassessment of the already struggling recovery effort for that species.
The wolf was reportedly shot by agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services division on Dec. 14, after it paced across the porch and gazed through the window of John and Crystal Diamond’s Beaverhead Ranch home. The Diamond residence is located in Catron County, although near enough to Sierra County to be in the Winston mailing area.
The wolf was killed just weeks after the Arizona Game and Fish Commission voted 3-1 to end its support for continued releases of wolves in that state until the federal government completes critical planning measures, although it retained financial and infrastructure support of the endangered animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which oversees the recovery effort, isn’t expected to complete these measures for three or four years, including updating of the nearly 30-year-old recovery plan, environmental studies and potential revisions to the project’s management rules. Wolf populations were projected to reach 100 by 2006, but have fluctuated between 42 and 52. Earlier this year, the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission voted to suspend its fiscal and personnel support of the recovery program.
Wire-based news reports across New Mexico and Arizona, where the wolf recovery is underway, neglected to mention the wolf was on the porch of the residence and acting in a dangerous manner in close relation to humans. Instead, reports mirrored the statements of wolf-advocacy and environmental group, Center for Biological Diversity, stating the female wolf was attracted to dogs on the property. The wolf was known to have mated with a domestic dog last year and produced a litter of five hybrid pups, of which all but one were euthanized by FWS.
Federal agents attempted unsuccessfully to tranquilize the animal for removal, but after repeated attempts resorted to lethal measures. According to Crystal Diamond, she arrived home with her two young children when a neighbor alerted her to the wolf’s presence.
In a statement issued through the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, Mrs. Diamond said the animal came onto the porch and at one point was staring into the window. She called wildlife officials and her husband, John, who was away from the ranch at that time, and the wolf continued the aggressive behavior until help arrived. FWS officials said tracks showed the wolf staying at a close distance from the residence even after it left the porch.
Tom Buckley, FWS spokesman, said “Concerns for public safety became an issue after (the wolf) continued to be present on ranch property so the Service gave the order to proceed with lethal removal.”
After news of the wolf’s shooting, Michael Robinson, spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), attributed the death of the animal to a failure of the FWS to increase the wolf population, causing the female to seek domestic animals for breeding. The news release from the CBD does not mention the wolf was in close proximity to humans and acting aggressively. It is well known among professional wildlife managers that wild animals—whether wolves, bears or most other wildlife—may become dangerous once they lose the fear of humans.
“This lonesome wolf did not have to die,” read a CBD news with the headline: Feds Shoot Lonely Mexican Gray Wolf Attracted to Dogs: Tragedy Linked to Federal Refusal to Release Wolves to Wild.
“If there were enough potential mates for her to choose from, this social creature wouldn’t have desperately sought the company of domestic dogs,” the release continued, without mention of the animal’s threatening behavior at the Diamond residence. “To ensure another wolf doesn’t pay the same price, the Obama administration must release more wolves into the wild.”
So true. We are lousy with deer and coyotes here in GA.
When making silly statements like this you have to be prepared to back them up or are you a hit and run poster?
Its bullsh!t. They are around. They also kill stuff. I will sss.
Sorry about your dog disappearing. It might be soothing bigger than a bobcat taking pets, like maybe coyotes.
Sorry about your dog disappearing. It might be soothing bigger than a bobcat taking pets, like maybe coyotes.
The reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf into SE Arizona and SW New Mexico has been nothing but an abject failure -- both for the residents of that beautiful part of the country and for the wolf. When a species is extirpated from an area, there is usually a good reason for it. In this case, the reason is simple: the wild wolf and domesticated mankind cannot coexist. When these two populations of apex predators find occasion to meet, almost always one or the other will be killed.
The liberal wildlife groups should know that. Not surprisingly, the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program is sheer folly.
And on an entirely different note, I'm glad you liked by recent bird survey list. Aren't those huge numbers of waterfowl amazing?
I'm sure Bosque del Apache is similar. It's on my short list of places to visit.
Just got back from 4 days of bird surveys at Moapa (Nevada). If you like phainopeplas, crissal thrashers, and Abert's towhees, you'd love the place! Lol!
Merry Christmas!
Ha ha ha!
Good one, Jaz!
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
May that Great Horned Owl keep your yard rodent-free!
Merry Christmas back at ya, George!
Merry Christmas
How many people have been killed by wolves in the past ten years, twenty years? Compared to pit bulls, or other “dogs”?
Wolves are no more dangerous than dogs because they are both biologically the same animal.
“A pack of wolves in the wild is nothing like
a stray dog on the street.”
I’d say a pack of stray dogs on the street would be as dangerous as a pack of wolves in the wild. Look at all the people that die each year from dog attacks versus wolf attacks.
“Wolves are dogs and dogs are wolves. There are probably more wolves living in people’s homes these days than ever lived in the wild.
When making silly statements like this you have to be prepared to back them up or are you a hit and run poster?”
Where did you think dogs came from? Did you think that God created them separate from the wolf? They are nothing but domesticated wolves.
“The domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the gray wolf, differing from it by at most 0.2% of mtDNA sequence....
In comparison, the gray wolf differs from its closest wild relative, the coyote, by about 4% of mitochondrial DNA sequence.”
Robert K. Wayne, Ph.D.
“Molecular evolution of the dog family”
Theoretical and Applied Genetics
“Not sure of your point, are you trying to insult me?”
Never, my friend.
“Dogs may be related to wolves, but as tragedies have shown, wolves are not domesticated as dogs are.”
I think there have been a good deal more tragedies with regard to dog attacks than with wolf attacks.
“I look forward to collecting my own hides for a Wolf-Skin coat once hunting opens up in the lower 48.”
Good man, and kill some dogs while you’re at it. Maybe a few Chihuahuas, help thin out this dangerous species.
“The domestic dog is an extremely close relative of the gray wolf, differing from it by at most 0.2% of mtDNA sequence....
I know dogs are descendants of wolves and you just admitted that dogs are not wolves and wolves are not dogs but they're close.
“at most 0.2% of mtDNA sequence” which means some breeds are less, probably some are much less. I’ll bet there are people out there who are as different from one another as some breeds of dogs are from wolves.
I’ll stand by my statement that dogs are wolves and wolves are dogs.
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