Second Mexican Wolf Dead,
This One Killed By Lion

SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. — A second Mexican Gray Wolf, part of an experimental pack introduced in the forests of eastern Arizona last spring, has been killed.

Initial reports by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials indicate the wolf, the second to be killed since 11 were released in the Apache National Forest in March, was killed by a mountain lion.

"We found out that wolves have enemies, too," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says.

McCain was in Springerville for a campaign luncheon at the American Legion Post the week following the wolf's death.

"I think it's an experiment that was decided upon by the government," McCain says of the wolf reintroduction program. "I believe that so far it's been successful, but obviously, we want to keep a very close eye on it."

Authorities say a motorist reported seeing the wolf the morning of Aug. 7, alongside a road west of Alpine, Ariz., in the Williams Valley area. The wolf reportedly had a bloody shoulder. Officials say that about the same time they received the report from the motorist, signals from the radio collar on wolf number 174 indicated that wolf was dead.

The female wolf, the first of the 11 released to give birth, was part of the Campbell Blue pack. Officers say she was found lying five yards from an elk calf carcass that appeared to have been killed by a mountain lion. Officials say a mountain lion was reported in the area the night before.

Fish and wildlife officials say the wolf's male mate and pup remained nearby and the adult male later dragged the carcass to the pup, where they both fed on it. Authorities say there has been no decision on whether to recapture or relocate the adult male and pup.

Officers say there is no indication of any foul play in the female wolf's death.

Eleven wolves were released in the Apache National Forest at the end of March as part of a reintroduction program. The wolves were divided into three groups and released in the Campbell Blue region, Hawks Nest Canyon and Four Bar Mesa.

Earlier this summer, a camper, Richard Humphrey, a retired postal worker from Tucson, Ariz., shot and killed a male wolf on Four Bar Mesa, about 40 miles to the south.

The wolf's body was shipped to the National Forensics Laboratory in Oregon for necropsy.

Federal officials determined that Humphrey killed the wolf in defense of his family and declined to charge him with any violation under the Endangered Species Act, but environmental activists are now demanding that the case be reopened.

A collection of anti-grazing and animal rights groups has written to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, challenging the investigation and insisting that Humphrey be charged. They claim the camper changed his story, but a friend who was with Humphrey when he was interrogated by government agents disputes that contention, says The Arizona Republic.

The paper quotes a Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman as saying that investigators "stand by their conclusion," and will not reopen the case without new evidence.

(The activists have apparently not demanded prosecution of the cougar responsible for killing the second wolf. — Ed.)