Mexico is planning to release five wolves near AZ

[jcarter]

http://azstarnet.com/news/state-and-regional/article_2575b888-de27-11e0-9af9-001cc4c03286.html

 

 

Mexico ready to release wolves near Arizona border

 

 

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/state-and-regional/article_2575b888-de27-11e0-9af9-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1XrEI1A5e

[270wsm]

Thanks for passing that along. Sure is nice to know what might be out there.

[WadeNAZ]

If they cross the border illegally and are caught will they be deported? or will they be allowed to live off our resources and live in the state as criminals stealing and murdering Citizen wildlife and cattle...

[KCA205]

Here is the press release. Not good news

 

 

 

 

Mexican authorities to release Mexican wolves in Sonora

 

Sept. 12, 2011

 

 

 

 

PHOENIX The Arizona Game and Fish Department has been informed that Mexican authorities plan to release five Mexican wolves this month at an undisclosed ranch location in northeastern Sonora, Mexico.

 

While the department does not know the specific date or other details at this time, it has received indications that the wolves being released will be fitted with satellite tracking collars.

 

Game and Fish is currently considering what, if any, impacts this release might have on Arizonas Mexican wolf conservation and stakeholders. The department will continue to monitor activities related to the planned release and inform constituents as information becomes available.

 

Arizona Game and Fish has been actively involved in the multi-partner effort reintroducing Mexican wolves to portions of their historical range in the east-central portion of the state for many years. In 1998, 11 captive-reared Mexican wolves were released into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area (BRWRA) in eastern Arizona. The current population was assessed to be around 50 animals during 2011 monitoring.

 

The Mexican wolf is considered endangered in the United States.

 

 

 

The Arizona Game and Fish Department prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, or disability in its programs and activities. If anyone believes that they have been discriminated against in any of the AGFDs programs or activities, including employment practices, they may file a complaint with the Director's Office, 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086-5000, (602) 942-3000, or with the Fish and Wildlife Service, 4040 N. Fairfax Dr. Ste. 130, Arlington, VA 22203. Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation or this document in an alternative format by contacting the Director's Office as listed above.

[yumabowhunter]

This is GREAT!

 

Now we can pop any wolf we see and just claim its a non-native Mexican wolf. Should be blessing in disguise.

[Simple Hunter]

This is sad for the ranchers, the long-time stewards of our land. Southern AZ ranchers have been battling loss from lions, drought conditions, high hay prices. Liberals are soon going to make the cost of ranching unprofitable and turn the southern arizona ranches into lot splits because that will be the only way ranchers can make money. Just wait, the Jaguar will be listed and the wolves released and we won't be able to overturn a freakin rock down south, let alone hunt. I am sorry but I know this government too well, they piss on private property rights and the elite liberals would like to eradicate humans from the environment because we are the cancer in their eyes. I am sad for my children.

[200"mulie]

huh interesting

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Three S's.... just sayin'.....

[longshooter]

Three S's.... just sayin'.....

 

I posted the same thing a few years back in regards to a few drug runners that held a guy and his kid at gun point on this site. I was almost banned for it and got a nasty email,lol

[AZLance]

a "nasty gram"??? now thats pretty funny if site management is doing that...

[Benbrown]

a "nasty gram"??? now thats pretty funny if site management is doing that...

 

Here's a little more info from today's AP story. These wolves will have the full protection of ESA (i.e., a $50K fine for illegal take) unless they wander into the Blue Range Wolf Reintroduction Area where they are considered to be members of an experimental nonessential population. Arizona has a similar law and fine structure.

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- A plan by Mexican wildlife officials to reintroduce a rare species of gray wolf to its historic range in northern Mexico has prompted questions from wildlife managers and ranchers in the Southwest, where a similar, decade-long effort has been fraught with controversy.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and officials with the Arizona Department of Game and Fish recently learned of the plan by the Mexican government to release five captive-bred Mexican gray wolves at an undisclosed ranch in northeastern Sonora.

 

Mexican officials on Tuesday were still working on finding a suitable date for the release, said Laura Aguilar, a spokeswoman for the Mexican agency that oversees natural resources and the environment.

 

The plan was first proposed in 2009 but has faced delays.

 

Now, with the release imminent, Arizona wildlife managers are scrambling to determine what effects it could have on the effort in Arizona and New Mexico to reintroduce the endangered wolf.

 

"Obviously, there are some implications for our reintroduction program here if those wolves come across. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing or a good thing, but we just need to have some answers to our questions," said Lynda Lambert, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

 

Wildlife managers and ranchers in the two states want to know whether the wolves will be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Or will they have the same "nonessential, experimental" designation as wolves released as part of the reintroduction effort in New Mexico and Arizona?

 

There are also questions about how the wolves will be detected and monitored if they cross the international border, and how nuisance and livestock depredation incidents in the U.S. will be investigated if they involve the wolves from Mexico.

 

"When this came up two years ago, we raised some questions that really were never answered and so now I guess we start over again," said Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. "There's a lot of concern because there's a lot of stuff we just don't know."

 

Cowan added that ranchers she has talked to in Sonora are concerned after having seen the challenges spurred by the U.S. reintroduction effort.

 

Environmentalists said a release in Mexico would help ensure the species' recovery in both countries.

 

The effort to return the wolves to the wild in New Mexico and Arizona has been hampered by illegal shootings, court battles, complaints from ranchers who have lost livestock and pets to the wolves, and concerns by environmentalists over the way the reintroduction program has been managed.

 

The Mexican wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf, was exterminated in the wild in the Southwest by the 1930s after a campaign by the federal government to control the predator.

 

A handful of wolves were captured in Mexico in the late 1970s to save the animal from extinction. In 1998, the U.S. government began reintroducing wolves along the Arizona-New Mexico line in a 4 million-acre territory.

 

Biologists had hoped to have at least 100 wolves by now, but the latest survey shows about half that number.

 

It's unclear how many wolves are in Mexico's Sonora state, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Mexico has 18 captive-breeding facilities and 66 wolves.

 

Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity called the prospect of wolves in the Mexican wild "extraordinarily good news." He said it's critical that the Sierra Madre range in Mexico be identified as part of the wolf recovery area.

 

"It's hard to conceive of recovery actually taking place without a population of wolves sustaining itself in Mexico and being connected to those in the United States," he said.

 

Both Robinson and Tom Buckley, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said connectivity between the two populations would help broaden the wolf's genetic pool.

 

"As they expand, we want to see them mix, we want to see them naturally have that genetic exchange," Buckley said. "That's one of the hopes in order for them to become a self-sustaining larger population."

 

Officials said the wolves that will be released in Mexico will be fitted with radio collars so they can be monitored.

 

If they cross the border, the Fish and Wildlife Service said they will have the full protection of the federal Endangered Species Act as long as they are outside the boundaries of the wolf recovery area that spans southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

 

If the wolves are found within the recovery area, they will be considered as part of the experimental population - a classification that gives wildlife officials greater flexibility in managing the animals.

 

Despite the concerns of ranchers in Mexico and the American Southwest, Buckley said Mexico is a sovereign nation with its own conservation laws and programs.

 

"It's Mexico's choice," he said. "They can make their own call."

 

Mexico has spelled out its priorities for protecting the wolf in a 52-page action plan that covers everything from identifying suitable reintroduction sites to involving the public in the effort. The wolf is one of 30 at-risk species for which the country hopes to implement conservation plans for by 2012.

[Jimmer Negamanee]

It’s their country. They can do whatever they want. Don’t get me wrong. I’m no apologist for the Mexican government. As far as I’m concerned they’re the country with really nice people but a crappy, kleptocratic government.

 

And as far as my country goes, I don’t see the difference between poaching a desert bighorn and poaching a Mexican wolf.

[Outdoor Writer]

Three S's.... just sayin'.....

 

I posted the same thing a few years back in regards to a few drug runners that held a guy and his kid at gun point on this site. I was almost banned for it and got a nasty email,lol

 

No big deal. Even though both are illegal, urging others to poach is not as serious as urging others to murder people.

[longshooter]

Three S's.... just sayin'.....

 

I posted the same thing a few years back in regards to a few drug runners that held a guy and his kid at gun point on this site. I was almost banned for it and got a nasty email,lol

 

No big deal. Even though both are illegal, urging others to poach is not as serious as urging others to murder people.

 

Sorry but I disagree . I was not urging others to murder, Just stick up for themselves and don't' be pushed by illegals like this country has become so accustomed to over the years. IF There were a few illegal drug runners that had me and one of my kids held at gun point you can bet your but that the first chance I get both of them will pay. I have lost family members already due to Mexican cartels/mafia and don't want to lose any more. I don't know how you view things but when some one threatens me or my family I don't let that slide. If I remember correctly the guy and his young son were glassing on a hill top down south when 2-3 guys walked up with guns and stuck them in their faces. The guy and his son were just deer hunting while the drug runners who were in this country illegally running illegal drugs threatened them.

 

Seems like to many people try to be " politically correct" these days . Me I just say it the way it is. I could care less what others think.

 

 

No disrespect to you Tony , I think your a good writer. I have read your articles for years and enjoyed every single one of them , but I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on this.

[Outdoor Writer]

Three S's.... just sayin'.....

 

I posted the same thing a few years back in regards to a few drug runners that held a guy and his kid at gun point on this site. I was almost banned for it and got a nasty email,lol

 

No big deal. Even though both are illegal, urging others to poach is not as serious as urging others to murder people.

 

Sorry but I disagree . I was not urging others to murder, Just stick up for themselves and don't' be pushed by illegals like this country has become so accustomed to over the years. IF There were a few illegal drug runners that had me and one of my kids held at gun point you can bet your but that the first chance I get both of them will pay. I have lost family members already due to Mexican cartels/mafia and don't want to lose any more. I don't know how you view things but when some one threatens me or my family I don't let that slide. If I remember correctly the guy and his young son were glassing on a hill top down south when 2-3 guys walked up with guns and stuck them in their faces. The guy and his son were just deer hunting while the drug runners who were in this country illegally running illegal drugs threatened them.

 

Seems like to many people try to be " politically correct" these days . Me I just say it the way it is. I could care less what others think.

 

 

No disrespect to you Tony , I think your a good writer. I have read your articles for years and enjoyed every single one of them , but I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on this.

 

 

I don't have a problem with SELF-DEFENSE. That is not the same as urging someone to use the three S's, however -- regardless if the target is an animal or a human.