Federal Legislation Takes Aim at Mexican Gray Wolf Program

Two congressmen from the Southwest have introduced legislation that they say would protect farmers, ranchers and rural communities in Arizona and New Mexico from economic losses stemming from the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves. Environmentalists argue, however, that the legislation would be a death sentence for the endangered predators. U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce of New Mexico and Paul Gosar of Arizona introduced the bill this week. The two Republicans said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ignored public safety concerns and has failed to establish recovery goals for the wolves. They also criticized a recent decision to expand the wolf-reintroduction area in the two states. Pearce said the current reintroduction program isn’t effective and doesn’t provide the kind of accountability that residents deserve. “Congress must intervene by delisting the Mexican wolf, eliminating this inadequate ‘recovery’ program and transferring species protection back to the state of New Mexico,” he said. Gosar said the experiment to return wolves to the wild in the Southwest is flawed and should be ended. A subspecies of the gray wolf, the Mexican wolf was added to the federal endangered species list in 1976. There are now at least 109 wolves in the wild in the two states. That’s more than at any time since the reintroduction started. Changes announced by the Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this year would allow up to 325 wolves to roam a larger area...more