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July
21, 2005
The
last of 11 endangered Mexican gray wolves from the initial
1998 New Mexico-Arizona reintroduction program release died
July 20, the result of apparent stress and overheating while
in captivity.
According to news reports, the USFWS says "Brunhilda,"
or Wolf F511, likely died of overheating at the Sevillita,
N.M., facility south of Albuquerque, where temperatures have
been higher than 100 degrees, and that a necropsy will be
done to determine the exact cause of death.
Brunhilda
had been captured four times by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
officials, twice for having left the arbitrary boundaries
of the recovery area and twice for preying on cattle after
having scavenged on the carcasses of cattle she had not killed.
The
wolf was born in 1997 and released into the wild in March
1998 into the Blue Range of eastern Arizona as part of the
reintroduction effort to return the endangered Mexican gray
wolf to its traditional territory. She had been in captivity
for about three-and-a-half weeks before her death.
Including
her 2003 pups and her last mate, she is the thirteenth wolf
to have died since the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction began.
Wolf 511's mate in the Francisco Pack was shot dead by the
government in June. Their pups were captured alive with her.
Her previous litter of five wild-conceived pups died from
stress from the noise of a construction project near their
pen, in spring 2003, as a result of an earlier bout in captivity.
Her
first mate was killed by a hit-and-run driver at the edge
of Silver City, New Mexico after the pack had been removed
from the wild in Arizona, released in the Gila National Forest
of New Mexico, and then disintegrated -- with the individual
wolves roaming widely.
As
you know, there has been tremendous effort to return the Mexican
gray wolf to the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico, but now the
wolves are facing huge challenges. State and federal agencies
are proposing a one-year ban on new releases of Mexican gray
wolves. They also are proposing major limits on translocation
of wolves and a policy that makes it easier for the agencies
to kill wolves that bother livestock. The Mexican Wolf Adaptive
Management Work Group is holding meetings and has extended the
public comment period on the wolf reintroduction project.
For
more information on the meeting and to find out how to comment
go to http://www.adlaz.org/wolfalert.html.
Public
comments on the proposed changes to the wolf reintroduction
program are due July 31.
Please
take the time to comment on the moratorium and also on the
Five-Year Review. It requires two
separate letters to two separate entities. Both sets of
comments must be received in writing by
July 31, 2005 to be considered.
1)
Written comments on the SOPs or moratorium must be submitted
at one of the public meetings noted above, or sent via email
or through the U.S. Postal Service (postmarked by July
31, 2005). Submit email comment to: mexwolf@azgfd.gov.
Submit postal-mailed comment to: Mexican Wolf Reintroduction
Project, c/o Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 West Greenway
Road, Phoenix, Arizona, 85023-4399.
2)
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also accepting comments
on the Five-Year Review. Written comment must be submitted
at one of the public meetings noted above, or sent through
the U.S. Postal Service (postmarked by July
31, 2005) to: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New
Mexico Ecological Services Office, 2105 Osuna NE, Albuquerque,
New Mexico, 87113.
Copies
of documents pertaining to the three meeting topics are available
electronically in a downloadable format at http://azgfd.gov/wolf
and http://mexicanwolf.fws.gov (the socioeconomic component
of the Five-Year Review is now available on those websites).
Individual copies of the documents are also available by telephone
request at (602) 789-3500 or (505) 346-2525.
Please
copy Governor Janet Napolitano on your Comments. Her address
is 1700 West Washington, 9th Fl, Phoenix, Arizona 85007. Her
fax number is 602-542-1381 and to email her, either click
on the following link or cut and paste it into your server
http://www.governor.state.az.us/post/feedback.htm.
If
you live in New Mexico, you can copy Governor Bill Richardson
at 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Room 400, Santa Fe, NM 87501 or
email http://www.governor.state.nm.us/emailchoice.php?mm=6.
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