Hundreds of Scientists Warned Against Wolf Killing

[Guest guest]

Hundreds of Scientists Warned Against Wolf Killing Before Feds Shot New Mexico

Wolf

 

 

 

 

July 10, 2007 — By the Center for Biological Diversity

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In the weeks leading up to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service's most recent shooting of an endangered Mexican gray wolf last Thursday,

hundreds of scientists warned the agency that its unprecedented level of killing

and removing wolves was undermining the wolf recovery program and pushing the

species toward a catastrophic genetic bottleneck.

 

The scientists were ignored, and on July 5, 2007, over the objections of the New

Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the federal agent killed a female wolf with

pups. The incident provoked a strong reaction from New Mexico Governor and

presidential candidate Bill Richardson, who has initiated a criminal

investigation and called on the Bush administration to suspend its wolf-killing

policy pending reform.

 

In addition to the 11 wolves shot by government agents since 2003, 20 have died

due to accidents in the agency's recapture program, and 22 survived capture but

have been permanently removed from the wild. In all, the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife's Service's politically dominated program has killed or permanently

removed 53 wolves since it inception in 1998. That nearly equals the total

number of Mexican gray wolves remaining in the wild today: 55.

 

" The greatest threat to the Mexican gray wolf today is the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, " said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity.

" The Bush administration has turned the agency into a wolf-killing machine. No

wolves were shot by government agents until 2003; killings escalated to five in

2006 and are already at three this year. 2007 is on a trajectory to become

another record killing year. "

 

On June 28, 2007, nine scientists, including retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator David Parsons, complained to the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service that the recovery program has missed its goal of 102

wolves by nearly 50 percent. They blamed the failure on the high level of

killing and removal by federal agents: " For the past four years growth of the

[Mexican gray] wolf population has been limited by management-related killing or

permanent removal of wolves. "

 

Other authors included Dr. Phil Hedrick, member of the Mexican gray wolf

recovery team, and Dr. Paul Paquet of the University of Calgary, lead author of

the government-authorized Mexican Wolf Three-Year Review.

 

The scientists complained that the government has killed or removed some of the

most genetically important wolves, including the killing of the " genetically

irreplaceable " Saddle Pack alpha male in 2004 and more recent removal of the

alpha pair of the Saddle pack and their seven pups.

 

They " urge[d] the USFWS to take immediate actions that will result in at least a

15% annual growth rate of the wild population until the objective of at least

100 wolves is met and to expedite management actions necessary to protect and

maximize the genetic diversity of the wild population…and to expedite a

rule change that will meet the " conservation " mandate of the Endangered Species

Act.

 

Very similar points were made on June 10th, 2006, by the almost 600 attendees of

the annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists. The Society

unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Fish and Wildlife Service " to

suspend all predator control directed at Mexican gray wolves at least until the

interim 100-wolf goal of the current reintroduction program has been achieved. "

 

The American Society of Mammalogists was founded in 1919 and is the world's

oldest and largest organization devoted to the scientific study of mammals.

 

Contact Info:

 

Michael Robinson

Tel : 505-534-0360

 

 

When I see the price that you pay

I don't wanna grow up

I don't ever want to be that way

I don't wanna grow up

Seems that folks turn into things

that they never want