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SAVE THE DATE TO SAVE THE WOLVES!
The Fish and Wildlife Service
will hold an important public scoping meeting in Flagstaff on
November 26, 2007 as part of a rule change process that will determine
the future of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.
Mexican gray wolves are critical to our natural environment!
A healthy wolf population will keep our elk and deer
herds healthy and bring balance back to our wildlands. This
process is our chance to correct the mistakes of the past and
ensure a bright future for wolf recovery, and your participation
is vital. There are only 59 Mexican
gray wolves in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area! Help us,
help them!
Change the Rule to Save the Wolves
While reintroduced wolves have thrived in the
Northern Rockies - now numbering over 1,500 - the Mexican gray
wolf population remains dangerously low, with only about 59
wolves in an area twice the size of Yellowstone. The difference
is in the rules governing the program. Because of these rules,
11 wolves have been shot by the government, 20 more died
inadvertently because of capture, and at least 24 have
been trapped and permanently removed from the wild since the
reintroduction began.
Examples of how the rules counteract recovery
Northern Rockies wolves are allowed to expand their
territory. Mexican gray wolves are confined to the Blue Range
Wolf Recovery Area, which includes the Gila National Forest in
New Mexico and the bordering Apache National Forest in Arizona.
But with good habitat outside
of these areas, wolves often cross the political lines in search
of new homes and prey. When they choose to live outside the
boundaries, they are captured and relocated back into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, which thwarts expansion of the population, disrupts packs, and
sometimes causes serious injuries to individual wolves.
Current rules do not require ranchers using public lands
to remove or render inedible (as by lime, for example) the
carcasses of livestock that die for a number of non-wolf related
reasons like disease and starvation.
Wolves are attracted to and often scavenge on these carcasses,
and then begin to prey on live cattle or horses nearby. After
three livestock kills in a year, the wolf is either killed or
placed in captivity. The gray wolf reintroduction rule for the
northern Rocky Mountains in Yellowstone National Park and
central Idaho required ranchers to remove such “attractants” and
specified that wolves that prey on stock near to where they were
drawn by carcasses would not be “controlled.” But the Mexican
wolf never received this protection.
These are just two examples of problems
with the rules.
Your attendance at the meeting is
critical to the future of the Lobo in the southwest!
It is extremely important that we send a clear message to the
decision makers that the citizens of New Mexico and Arizona want
the Lobo to stay and make a full recovery.
For more information, go to: www.mexicangraywolf.org or
contact Paula Lewis at
paula@gcwolfrecovery.org 928-202-1325.
Please mark your calendar
and spread the word to your friends and families.
Save the Date & Save the Wolves!
November 26, 2007
Radisson Woodlands
Flagstaff, AZ
5:00 – 9:00 pm
You are also
encouraged to submit written comments for the scoping process.
They can be submitted via any of the options below. Deadline
to comment is December 31, 2007. Be sure to include “Attn:
Mexican Gray Wolf NEPA Scoping", your full name and your return
address in your message.
MAIL
Brian Millsap, State Administrator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office
2105 Osuna NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113
FAX
(505) 346–2542
EMAIL
r2fwe_al@fws.gov
ONLINE
www.mexicanwolfeis.org
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