Federal officials admitted recently that Mexican gray wolves, reintroduced to eastern Arizona last year, have killed another cow.

This was the second reported loss of livestock to the wolves this year.

Craig Miller with Defenders of Wildlife said his organization will contact the cow's owner and compensate the rancher for the animal at market value. Miller said the group has offered compensation to the owner of the other kill and to ranchers for two additional cows that might have been killed by wolves. Miller said they are also offering to pay veterinary bills for a cow believed to have been attacked by wolves.

David Parsons, Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator, admitted that one of the wolf packs is attacking livestock. He said this pack would be recaptured and taken back to Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, N.M.

Bill J. Moore, a wildlife specialist with the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, says that under current rules the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cannot release wolves directly into New Mexico, but the rules allow for re-release of problem wolves in New Mexico.

"I believe it is very likely this wolf pack will be released somewhere in the vicinity of the Gila Wilderness," Moore says.

The Gila Wilderness is about a 500,000 acre livestock-free area.

Parsons says no decision has been made, but Wendy Brown, assistant recovery coordinator, has moved to Glenwood, N.M., and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is meeting with Gila National Forest personnel to discuss the possibility.

While there has been talk about moving the wolf pack to the White Sands Missile Range, Parsons says the deer population there would not support the wolves, and it is unlikely that there will be a release at White Sands in the near future.

Last year, five of the original 11 wolves that had been released were shot. There have been no shootings this year. Biologists say they are trying to keep the wolves away from livestock.

Federal and Arizona officials have captured two of the Pipestem Pack, the pack blamed for attacks on livestock, and are trying to capture the remaining members.

U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Service says the most recent livestock kill was by the Gavilan Pack which consists of an adult male and female, one yearling and five pups born last spring. They are a part of 22 wolves in five packs currently along the Arizona-New Mexico line.