Mexican Gray Wolf: a Story About People

In march, a group of community members and environmentalists gathered in front of the federal building in downtown Albuquerque...demanding the US fish and wildlife service release more wolves into the wild...Emotions were high that day...and it’s clear…these people are passionate about saving the native wolf population. Wild Earth Guardians' Bryan Bird explains why: “The wolves were here before us, so they belong here, and we extricated them for industrial purposes. It’s now time to make that wrong a right.” By industrial purposes, he’s referring to the livestock industry. In the early 1900s the wolves were intentionally removed from the landscape here to make the area more cattle friendly. And since the beginning of the wolf release program in the 90s, cows and their people have become the wolves biggest obstacle… But the livestock industry disagrees. Karen (sic) Cowan is with the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. She says: “You know, I didn’t make the decision to take the wolves out, but trying to shoehorn them back in isn’t working. The fact is, we’ve had members go out of business, sell their ranches and move on because of losses due to these wolves.” Because in today's market, losing a steer is like losing $1,000. But Cowan says the most frustrating thing about the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery program is that: “Ranchers were left out of the discussion. There’s never been a voice. There’s never been an acceptance to the wide variety of losses that are caused.”  As this battle rages, the Fish and Wildlife Service is caught in the middle. Spokeswoman Charna Lefton maintains that: “We have to make sure that the wolves can successfully propagate and live in harmony with a working landscape.”
But figuring out exactly what a working landscape that includes wolves will look like…is the million dollar question…Sherry Barrett, head of Fish and Wildlife’s wolf program, is quick to point out that they are getting close…“What we’re finding from studies on the ground is that 80% of the diet of wolves is elk. And so it’s a smaller part of that that’s livestock” But that 20% continues to add fuel to this fire...more