Lincoln County - Wolves in Ruidoso News

County intensifies opposition to gray wolf reintroduction
Dianne Stallings dstallings@ruidosonews.com
Article Launched: 01/03/2008 09:15:42 PM MST


Opposition to expansion of the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction project blew up into request to pressure state legislators to withdraw New Mexico from the federal Endangered Species Act.

Lincoln County commissioners at their meeting last month approved an amendment to an existing ordinance against the release of wild animals within county borders, by specifying the Mexican gray wolf.

They also directed County Attorney Alan Morel to draft a resolution asking the governor to opt the state out of the ESA only in reference to predatory animals.

The draft will be reviewed at a special meeting today.

The original ordinance against the release or importation of predatory animals in the county was passed in 1994, and the amendment will not affect the county's standing prior to the wolf release program's initiation, Morel said.

Commissioner Eileen Lovelace asked the attorney to bring them a copy of what Catron County enacted to protect citizens from prosecution, if they shoot a wolf in self-defense or to defend livestock, stock dogs and pets.

Commissioner Jackie Powell, who attended a meeting in Alamogordo with former commission chairman Rick Simpson, said a map of where new reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf may occur extends from Interstate-40 to I-10, and covers all of Lincoln County. She and Lovelace said they wanted an ordinance strong enough to protect livestock and children. Lovelace said while she is concerned about animals, humanity comes first.

They also want officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to know that the county cannot take the economic hit commissioners contended the wolf reintroduction would create.

Powell said in Catron, wolves have become bold and habituated to humans. In fewer than 18 months, they were photographed more than 2,000 times.

Wolves don't recognize where federal land ends and private property begins, she said. Thirty wolves have nearly devastated the calf crop in that area, she said. Structures were built to protect children while they wait for school buses, she said.

Morel said Catron County's ordinance is "fairly extensive," and goes much further than Lincoln County's version. Multiple federal laws protecting the reintroduced wolves are involved and the issue is complex, he said.

Simpson, who also serves on the county Public Land Use and Rural Affairs Advisory Committee, said he was disappointed that the Alamogordo meeting was not a public hearing where questions were fielded.

But he managed to find a USFWS official at a table later. He asked what effect ordinances against the reintroduction of the wolf passed by Otero County and Lincoln County would have on federal consideration.

Simpson said he was told the federal program on federal land doesn't have to abide by local laws.

"I said I guess we'll find out in a court of law and he said they already did in Catron County," Simpson said. "I said the ordinance was not in place in time there.

"That's the reason we're here now, to get ours as strict as possible and to put as much teeth in the ordinance and to be as specific as possible."

He pointed to section of a state hunting proclamation warning against harassing or shooting wolves.

Killing a protected wolf could result in a one year jail term and a $50,000 fine, he said.

A person is supposed to report within seven days if he harassed a wolf that was threatening, Simpson said, continuing to cite the other specific rules.

One of the most irritating to him was a prohibition against killing a wolf that is attacking a pet.

Simpson said if his horses, pack animals, hunting or stock dogs were threatened, he wouldn't wait until they were being bitten, maimed or killed to react.

"I will become a felon, because I will take care of that problem the best I can," he said. "I am a good shot."

Oscura resident Jerry Carroll said years ago before the reintroduction program began migrating wolves from Mexico occasionally were spotted or killed in his area. He said the code was, "Shoot, shovel and shut up."

Simpson said he was told that White Sands Missile Range was determined not to be large enough or to have enough big game to reintroduce the wolf.

"The mountain lions took care of that," he said.

"They want to reintroduce in the western part of the state and let (wolves) bleed into this area," he said. "I don't think our ordinance covers bleeding over from another jurisdiction, even if it does reintroduction."

He contended New Mexico legislators adopted the ESA, when it was new and people were naive about the consequences. "They're telling me all I can do is cry, when we have a constitution that says we can protect ourselves.

"It may have started out as a good idea, but implementation gets overdone with a case of tunnel vision and we end up asking ourselves who is worth more, the citizens of New Mexico or the wolves?"

Carroll, who raises goats on the western side of the county, said the people who say the state needs the wolves don't want them in their backyard. Another resident said Lincoln County has too many population centers and too much ranching to be a good site for reintroduction.

County Extension Agent Pete Gnatkowski said ranchers in Catron County have been destroyed by the loss of livestock.

Although there is a rule that if a pack is credited with three livestock kills, they must be captured and removed, or killed, that can be tough to accomplish, he said.

He suggested the commission become a cooperating agency to ensure it has standing and can give input, even if the federal agency is not required to seriously consider that input.

Powell said commissioners already sent a letter asking for that designation.

Another resident said he feared USFWS officials may try to introduce wolves into the White Mountain Wilderness of the Lincoln National Forest.

"That would be bad for big game hunters and livestock people," he said.

He warned that while 57 wolves have been released, hundreds survive in captivity that could be released in the future.