Following this article is a note from "Laura Schneberger," a young mother
whose family has been threatened by Wolves artificially planted on their
ranch in Gila Forest.
Laura's 13 year old daughter Micah, has to pack a pistol just to protect
herself while doing chores on their ranch. How many 13 year olds do you know,
who has to do this just to survive another government paid for folly?
Wolves Missing In Gila
Forest
Copyright ©
2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Southern Bureau
LAS CRUCES- The suspicious
disappearance of the three-member Durango wolf pack is the latest blow to the
endangered Mexican gray wolf recovery program in southwestern New
Mexico.
The pack, including two adults outfitted with
radio collars that continue to transmit even if the wolf is dead, hasn't been
detected since early this month.
"We couldn't find them,"
said Elizabeth Slown, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Now
their fate is considered unknown. ... It's perplexing. You could see one collar
malfunctioning, but this would have to be two collars
malfunctioning."
Advocates of the program say it is
suspicious for several wolves to suddenly go undetected after weeks of
searches.
The Catron County commission on Nov. 7 warned
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it planned to trap the Durango pack's
alpha male, known as AM973, which the county considered a "dangerous wolf"
because it had repeatedly gone near a home on the Adobe Ranch in northern Catron
County.
"I would say it (the pack's disappearance) is both
worrisome and unusual," said Dave Parsons, a conservation biologist with the
Albuquerque-based Rewilding Institute and the former Fish and Wildlife Service
coordinator for the program.
Laura Schneberger, president
of the Gila Livestock Growers Association, agreed the disappearance is
suspicious but added, "None of us had anything to do with
it."
The association has been critical of the wolf
reintroduction because of repeated livestock kills and concerns about human
safety.
"Of course it's suspicious," Schneberger said.
"That's what happens when you have a bunch of wolves running around people's
houses and camps. They are going to get killed, because people can't put up with
them. ... Is anyone surprised that the Durango pack has gone missing after they
were allowed to become so habituated?"
The pack, including
an adult male and female and an uncollared pup, was last seen Nov. 1 near the
ranch house in the northeast section of the Gila National
Forest.
The recovery program has tried to track the wolves
in aerial and ground searches.
There were 59 wolves at the
beginning of the year in the recovery area, which includes national forests in
southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico.
Since the
endangered wolves were reintroduced to the recovery area in 1998, 26 have died
from poaching, Slown said.
Slown said it is possible to
disable a collar, but, she added: "A person could do that; a bear
couldn't."
The killing of an endangered species is a
federal offense.
While a solitary wolf is more likely to
roam long distances, packs tend to remain in established territories, Parsons
said, and the Durango pack was known to hang around one ranch. "It would be
unusual for them to just go completely out of radar range," Parsons
said.
The Durango pack's alpha female was ordered killed
in July for repeated livestock depredations, weeks after she birthed a litter of
four pups. Slown said it appeared only one of those pups survived to
November.
Parsons said the loss of the Durango pack's
alpha male is "a fairly serious blow" because it possessed the genetic make-up
of three remaining Mexican wolf lineages and because, with a new mate, it was
set to reproduce again next spring.
"From a cumulative
perspective, that's a lot of growth potential down the drain," Parsons
said.
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Response to the "Wolves missing in Gila Forest.."
I like my quotes, taken out of context as usual but
what the heck. Sorry if I sound like I didn't care what happened to the poor
wolves. But wow come to think of it, I don't care. I am relieved!!! I am GLAD
they are not allowed to threaten my daughter Micah - now13, and forced to pack a
pistol on her hip all summer and fall, due to wolves lurking around her home
- and mess up her freedom to roam around her own yard any
longer. How long were FWS willing to let that go on? Obviously
indefinitely From the sound of it Dave Parsons was probably glad that she was
available as potential alternative prey for them. Not at all concerned that the
Male was habituating other wild wolves and risking their success in the wild.
But this is what we have come to, the FWS doesn't care that the wolves are
threatening people and people will tolerate it if they absolutely have to, just
like everyone around here is doing, but they seemed to forget that there were
probably 50-100 deer hunters around when the wolves went missing.
Our major
concern at the time was that they had just killed a grown cow. Last signal I
know of from them was on the 4th, they killed a cow between the 4 and 5 right
next to the main road and several deer camps and the plane didn't pick up their
signal on the 6th. Gee wonder what happened to them? Even I thought it was a
collar malfunction but after a week with them not showing up at the Garcia Camp
to threaten the family there, we knew they were gone.
Laura Schneberger
Please check out the photos on www.Wolfcrossing.org