Ariz. Drops Wolf Support

No Mexican gray wolves have been removed from the wild for preying on livestock in four years, but the number of lobos roaming forests in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico has remained essentially flat during that time, hovering at about 50. Now the wolf recovery program’s chance for success faces a new challenge – the Arizona Game and Fish Commission’s decision Dec. 2 to withhold support for any new releases of wolves into the wild until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completes several major planning efforts. Fish and Wildlife, which oversees the recovery effort, is not expected to complete those projects for three or four years. The work includes an update of a nearly 30-year-old recovery plan, far-reaching environmental studies and potential revisions to the project’s management rules. If the agency releases more wolves over the objections of ethe Arizona commission, it risks being accused of running roughshod over rural opponents of the recovery effort. “It would be a poor decision,” said Patrick Bray, executive vice president of the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association. “Because stakeholders, communities, counties will push back as hard as they can.” But honoring the commission’s position would set back the recovery effort, said Eva Sargent of Tucson-based Defenders of Wildlife. “The most important thing they can be doing is releasing more wolves. That’s why this is so troubling.”...more

That's a misleading headline the Journal put on Rene Romo's article. As this article explains, they still support the recovery effort, just no new releases, quoting Commission Chairman Woodhouse:

"At the conclusion of the agenda item, two things were certain: passion for wolves on all sides runs very deep, and the Game and Fish Commission will continue to strongly support Mexican wolf conservation in the state, including by providing financial resources."

According to this AP article, there are nearly two dozen wolves waiting for potential release at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in NM.