New Mexico Ranchers
Sue To Stop Wolves

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —(AP)— New Mexico ranchers are suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to block the release of wolves into the mountains of the Southwest.

That release could come as early as this week, when biologists plan to release 11 Mexican wolves from pens near the New Mexico-Arizona state line.

"We're seeking to have the release of the wolves postponed or halted until we can resolve some of the issues we bring up in the lawsuit," Caren Cowan, director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, said Friday.

Whether the lawsuit will affect those plans was not immediately known. Cowan said the suit was filed last Thursday in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces.

The Mexican gray wolf, known as the lobo, is believed by biologists to be extinct in the wild. Through a handful of survivors, biologists were able to bring the population up through captive breeding to about 175. All but 11 of those wolves live in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries.

In January, those 11 wolves were moved to one-third acre pens on national forest land in Arizona near New Mexico, where they have been getting accustomed to the environment into which they are expected to be released.

Environmental activists say the reintroduction is a giant step toward restoring a damaged ecosystem. Ranch groups call it an illogical infringement on their livelihoods.

In their lawsuit, ranch groups say the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to adequately analyze how wolf reintroduction will affect rural economies.

It also says captive Mexican wolves might contain coyote or dog genes, and ranch groups say that makes them unworthy of protection as an endangered species.

"We don't believe these are pure Mexican wolves," Cowan said.

The lawsuit was filed by the cattle growers, the New Mexico Public Lands Council, the New Mexico Wool Growers Inc., the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, the Production Credit Association of New Mexico, and ranch groups from several counties.