AZ Daily Sun (original) Posted: Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:00 pm
To the editor:
Friday the 13th may have been a lucky day for the Mexican gray wolf. Settling a lawsuit filed by several environmental organizations, the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service reclaimed its authority over the Mexican wolf recovery program and scrapped the controversial SOP 13 rule that required removal or killing of any wolf that killed three livestock in a year, regardless of the wolf's genetic importance to recovery efforts.
For some time now the Mexican Wolf Adaptive Management Oversight Committee (AMOC) had been the sole decision- maker in determining whether a wolf should be removed from the wild. The committee members running AMOC (pun intended) focused on wolf control and appeasing anti-wolf interests in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area rather than recovery of endangered Lobo. Now the FWS can refocus its efforts on creating a sound, science-based recovery plan that may help prevent the second extinction of this important predator. Let's hope they get it right.
STEVE ROBINSON
Flagstaff
