MEXICAN WOLF

From: Jess Carey
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 12:33 AM
Subject: Another Calf Confirmed killed by wolves

Hi all,

Today, 04-07-08 there was another calf killed by wolves (confirmed). I attached three photographs of the calf remains so you could see what was left after wolves killed and fed on it.

This two week old calf had numerous bite sites on the neck, head, right and left shoulders and front legs. As you can see the calf is missing from just behind the shoulder area. When found the calf had been dead approximately 10 hours or less. Also when found, it was reported that six wolves were feeding on the calf carcass. The male of the pack did not want to leave and scared one of the people present. If this calf had not been found when it was, it would have been a "Missing Calf" within a twenty four hour period. A missing calf is a total loss for the rancher. Why? Because there is no evidence to meet the standard of confirmation by AMOC. Are there any protective measures to protect the rancher from missing calves...NO. Small calves can be consumed by wolves in a very short time with no remains left.

There were numerous bite sites with corresponding hemorrhage on the calf. Canine spreads ranged; 47.02mm, 44.16mm, 40.54mm, 39.31mm, and 38.05mm. These canine spreads indicate there were several wolves in on the killing of the calf. With this evidence of multiple wolves, will a strike be assessed to all the wolves involve? I find the evidence indicates at least three wolves committed the depredation.

IFT members Ground Telemetry confirmed the "Middle Fork" wolf pack, AM871 and AF861. I used my ground telemetry receiver and the wolf collar channels for AM871 and AF 861 that I had received prior to the ban on releasing channels by the NMDGF. I could not receive either wolf signal. I did receive one strong signal, but that channel was not assigned to any wolf I have knowledge of. Later, I was told that one of the collars of Middle Fork wolf pack had been changed.

What has the rancher provided to the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program? The answer is simple, hundreds of cows and calves with no compensation due to totally missing cows and calves, canine spreads with corresponding hemorrhage destroyed by feeding wolves, and advanced decomposition where the evidence is lost to confirm a wolf depredation. There were three categories of wolf-animal depredations; Confirmed, Probable, and Possible. Now there is only confirmed and Probable. Possible was removed by AMOC. I feel this was based on having toO many wolf-animal related incidences. Lower the wolf related incident numbers by removing one of categories. This will change the statistics, but will not change the depredations on the ground.