Living with Mexican wolves and the liberal press

In writing, "Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf," your columnist does not seem to have researched any of the documented damage caused by Mexican wolves. It appears his biased article came directly from his personal agenda, rather than the facts. I felt it necessary to provide documented facts concerning the Mexican wolf. Catron County has been documenting wolf-human, wolf-animal interactions since April 2006. This year alone, there have been 16 documented confirmed wolf-livestock depredations, 1 probable depredation, and 4 confirmed injuries. However, your columnist conveniently omits any mention of this serious problem for local family ranchers. Since 2006 to the present, there have been 140 wolf-human incidents and 240 wolf-animal incidents, for a total of 380 incidents. Fifty percent of wolf interactions were on private property, indicating Mexican wolves are highly habituated and lack an avoidance response to humans, thereby posing a major threat. Habituated wolves seek out humans and human use areas. They are bold and come to homes where children play. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supplementally feeds the wolves all the time, including right now, causing the wolves to become further habituated by food conditioning. Bus stop shelters were built with donated materials to protect school children after two children were followed home by wolves after they got off the school bus. Wolves were also documented at the elementary school by the swing set. County Sheriff Shawn Menges had deputies on guard during recess while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service John Oakleaf tried to trap the un-collared wolf...more