Mexican Wolves Killing More
Livestock, Just As Predicted

ALBUQUERQUE —(AP)— A marauding wolf pack that already killed two cows recently killed a third, federal wildlife officials said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the Gavilan pack was responsible for killing a grown cow found dead last Tuesday on a grazing allotment near Coalson Peak in the Apache National Forest about 18 miles northeast of Clifton.

The same pack killed cattle that were found dead on Aug. 9 and Aug. 29, the service said.

The pack is the second of five released this year that has begun preying on cattle. Most members of the first pack, known as the Pipestem pack, were recaptured and removed, though the primary female has continued to elude biologists.

The wolves are part of a program intended to restore the animals to the wilderness that was once their home. In all, about two dozen were released this year. About 20 remain in the wild near the Arizona-New Mexico border.

Biologists said they were increasing their efforts to move the Gavilan pack away from the cattle. Besides increased monitoring, they are providing supplemental food — carcasses of elk and deer — away from the area.

Whether the pack must be relocated or must be returned to captivity was under review, the service said Friday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Mexican gray wolf recovery program is in its second year. Five of 11 captive-born wolves reintroduced last year were killed, and nearly every other animal from the initial releases was recaptured.

The Pipestem pack was returned to captivity after at least two attacks on cattle that left a calf dead.

The Gavilan pack, released in May, consists of an adult male, an adult female, a yearling male and five pups born in the spring.

Ranchers opposed the restoration project, predicting just such depredation. To offset such concerns, the Defenders of Wildlife, a national environmental advocacy group, reimburses livestock producers for losses confirmed to be a result of wolf attacks.

(Actual reimbursements have been small despite all the hype, and do not begin to compensate for the direct losses, much less the disruptions to ranching operations and even to ranchers' lives. The "reimbursement" program, of course, was never meant to compensate for losses, just to dampen dissent and smooth the way for the reintroduction scheme. It has succeeded in that singular goal. — Ed.)

Meanwhile, in Wyoming, a rancher has been issued a permit by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to shoot problem wolves on his property.

Jon Robinett of the Diamond G Ranch about 20 miles northwest of Dubois told the Riverton Ranger last Friday that he was the one who received the permit, but he declined to discuss the issue.

The permit allows a maximum of two wolves to be killed, and requires Robinett to leave them in place and contact Fish and Wildlife immediately, the agency said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service refused to say who received the permit.

``Right now we feel it's more important that we try to maintain some privacy (for) the permittee,'' said Skip Ladd, assistant Denver regional director. ``I don't think the public necessarily needs to know who has a permit.''

Under the rule governing the wolf restoration project in the northern Rockies and Yellowstone National Park, the agency, under extraordinary circumstances, can issue a permit to a landowner or the landowner's designee to assist Fish and Wildlife personnel with killing problem wolves, officials said.

The agency has spent hundreds of hours in the last year attempting to capture what it believes is one or two wolves killing livestock and pets on Robinett's land, officials said.

Fish and Wildlife approached Robinett and asked for his assistance because he was working in the area daily and would have a ``greater opportunity to remove'' the wolves than an agency biologist.

During the last year, the Diamond G has lost several dogs, a newborn foal, and possibly two calves to wolves. And the ranch has had continued livestock and pet losses in the last three years despite the agency's killing of three wolves previously, officials said.

``This is basically a last resort. ... It's a step in the whole process in dealing with depredating wolves that may well need to be used (again) in other situations and locations,'' Ladd said.

A spokesman for the National Wildlife Federation said that if the permit, which was issued Thursday, set a precedent for that type of wolf control, it could be bad for the wolf recovery effort.

But, under extraordinary circumstances such as these, it is an acceptable control alternative, said Sterling Miller, the activist group spokesman.