After months of giving the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) the slip, Mexican wolf F1188, the alpha female of the Fox Mountain Pack, was unfortunately captured. Back in August, USFWS issued a kill order on the elusive loba for the depredation of cattle. This news raised hackles among many wildlife advocacy organizations and their supporters. With less than 58 Mexican gray wolves in the wild, the call for her lethal removal was unacceptable and the masses agreed. The public outcry on behalf this mother with pups gained great momentum. Thankfully, not long after the kill order was issued, the great folks from the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center offered to pay to have F1188 captured alive and to give her a permanent home at their facility in Scottsdale, AZ. It was a bittersweet victory for the wolf and those of us who spoke out against the kill order, because now this critically endangered wild wolf will remain in permanent captivity. F1188 is an important member of her pack, she leaves behind her growing pups born last spring. While it’s a relief her life was spared, her removal from the wild represents another unnatural challenge for the less than 58 Mexican gray wolves that currently reside in the wild and the family she leaves behind.
The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), or “lobo,” is the smallest, southernmost occurring, and most genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Aggressive predator control programs at the turn of the century all but exterminated the Mexican wolf from the wild. With the capture of the last 7 remaining wild Mexican wolves approximately 30 years ago, a captive breeding program was initiated helping to save the Mexican wolf from extinction. Today, the captive population consists of approximately 300 animals, and encompasses close to 50 zoos and wildlife facilities throughout the United States and Mexico.
Reimburse the Catron County (CC) ranchers for their direct and indirect monetary losses for the lost cattle, wipe the ranchers’ crying eyes and sniveling noses, and leave the wolves alone. A little bit of ranchers’ “economic concern” is not justification to continue slaughtering these
magnificent animals. Even the governor of New Mexico has said this recently and asked that the culprit Fox Mountain wolves be relocated rather than killed. These wolves should not be
killed UNLESS they have become a permanent threat to or have harmed human beings.
As stated by Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity, these wolves normally feed exclusively on elk and deer and other wildlife. Therefore, every cattle killing allegedly by wolves needs to be closely investigated to make sure that the CC ranchers are not staging these events or otherwise setting up the wolves to do something that they would not normally or naturally do in their environment.
October 11, 2012
Stephen H. Buck, PhD
Tucson, Arizona
Balance
Later, if it is still possible,
will the salmon come back if the rivers run?
Would the bison have a chance?
Could the grass return to their feet,
hooves stirring soil to seed,
fire opening cones to saplings?
What might grow there again
between meadow and tree—
wild sheep carving the peaks,
and the small pika in its den,
wolves hunting voles, calves, old elk,
their muscles and teeth
making life.
(©Oct. 29, 2009 Carol Snyder Halberstadt)
I am honored that this poem was published in the Buffalo Field Campaign’s 2013 calendar, for October. I am heartbroken at the complete lack of understanding and compassion for our relatives. For the FWS to take this mother from her family–her four now 6 month old pups and her adolescent (14 month-old son or daughter from last year) and from her husband (wolves mate for life) is beyond cruelty–it is vile, it is abusive, it will likely destroy her little successful family, living on public lands (Apache National Forest). They belong to no one–only the Earth–and they certainly don’t belong to the government, which is supposed to protect them. There were originally 7 wolves who were the beginning of the Mexican wolf restoration to their indigenous homeland in the Southwest-it is beyond ironic that now 7 (the Fox Mountain pack) is destroyed. There is a relentless war being waged by government public agencies, against the will of the people they are supposed to serve, the life they are mandated to protect, and against life on Earth… Extinction is forever…
Thank you for this lovely poem!