WOLVES AND FOREST FIRES

In the summers of 1972 & 1973 I worked for the National Park Service in Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. Grand Teton is south of Yellowstone National Park. I remember the 'old timers' telling me about wolves and forest fires. Wranglers and park employees who had lived in the area for years told of wolves attacking stressed animals as they fled the ravages of a forest fire. Wolf packs would wound, maim or kill already exhausted and panicked animals and then move on to the next easy kill. In the sometimes cruel reality of nature, this seems unfair and inhumane.

We're not dealing with humans though. We are dealing with the reintroduction of wolves in New Mexico. This one predator species has been given priority over private property rights, safety of humans, family pets, livestock and other species of wildlife. The elk and deer population in western New Mexico has been ravaged by the wolf packs in Catron county and other counties in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona.

In my reading on wolves I came upon a brief passage in a book that confirmed what the old timers in Wyoming had told me.

The following text is taken from 'WOLVES: BEHAVIOR, ECOLOGY and CONSERVATION; edited by L. David Mech and Luigi Boitani. The chapter the text is taken from was provided to the publication by Rolf O. Peterson and Paolo Ciucci.

From Wolves: Behavior, Ecology & Conservation: Page 106:
"...hunting unfortunate prey displaced by a forest fire..."

This one line of text, brief as it is, brought back the memories of rural knowledge of people living with wolves in Wyoming. I compare this rural belief from observation of people living with wolves to the present day expert testimony and explanation of wolf reintroduction and the hazardous condition of forests in Otero county and Lincoln National Forest. Who is correct in their appraisal of federal program administration of wolves and forests: the Fish and Wildlife Service or the United States Forest Service? What is the common denominator between wolves and trees and who is the species under observation; wolves, trees or the residents of Otero county?