Feds plan NM release of wolf pups bred in captivity

This summer the federal government plans to release Mexican gray wolf pups bred in captivity directly into New Mexico for the first time – part of what it says is an effort to encourage the endangered lobo’s recovery – if the state grants permission. Wolves have been bred in captivity in New Mexico for years but then released in Arizona, where some eventually were captured for one of various reasons and then relocated to New Mexico. But a new management rule that took effect in February permits the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to introduce “new” wolves, or those bred in captivity, directly into the New Mexico wild – a critical step, advocates say, toward improving the genetics of the population. Wolf advocates say they are concerned about the fate of permit requests by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pending before the New Mexico Game and Fish Department to release new wolves. They say the department’s governor-appointed commission took a swipe at the recovery program last week when it denied Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch a permit to host wolves on its property in New Mexico. It had been doing so for 17 years. The Game and Fish Department confirmed it is reviewing requests by the FWS to release into the Gila wilderness a pair of wolves and their pups, and to import and release up to 10 wolves into New Mexico. Department Director Alexa Sandoval is charged with making a determination. Asked whether the FWS needs state approval to release wolves onto federal public land, the FWS said it has “federal statutory responsibility to recover Mexican wolves” but added, “We are most effective when partnering with the states.”  “Our desire is to work with the state toward the recovery of the Mexican wolf, which will eventually lead to state management of the species,” the FWS said...more