New Mexico's governor wants Mexican Gray Wolves relocated

October 11, 2012

New Mexico’s governor wants federal officials to move a pack of endangered wolves suspected of killing cattle in the southwestern part of her state. 

Governor Susana Martinez sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking them to relocate the Fox Mountain Mexican Gray Wolf pack in Catron County. Martinez says the wolves have been killing cows and that local livestock owners are losing money. But a Mexican Gray Wolf expert says that sounds unusual, because the pack usually hunts elk.

Mexican Gray Wolves are extremely rare, and were added to the endangered species list in 1976. In 1998, federal wildlife officials began reintroducing the wolves in Arizona and western New Mexico, with the goal of 100 wolves in the wild. Recent estimates find the wolves number near 60. Just this week, Fish and Wildlife declined to protect Arizona’s Gray Wolves as a “distinct population segment” or “endangered subspecies” despite requests from conservationists.

Martinez says the Fox Mountain pack in her state should be moved because it’s affecting the “psychological well-being of families.”