Update courtesy Patrick C. Valentino of the Julian Wolf Preserve

December 21, 1998

      Everyone:

      Below is an article from the Albuquerque Journal about the latest lawsuit from the Ranching industry to undo the recent release of Mexican gray wolves. The continuing claim that Mexican wolves are hybrids are once again part of the the argument against the reintroduction.

For a more reliable analysis: Studies of DNA have shown that Mexican gray wolves are not contaminated with coyotes/other strains as some feared, and are in fact the most genetically distinct North American wolf breed - strongly supporting their classification as a distinct subspecies. (see Garcia~Moreno, J., Matocq, M.D., Roy, M.S., Geffen, E. & Wayne, R. K. (1996), Relationships and Genetic Purity of the Endangered Mexican Wolf Based on Analysis of Microsatellite Loci. Conservation Biology. 10: 376-389.)

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Patrick Valentino
Julian Wolf Preserve
http://members.xoom.com/juliancenter/
Wolf Handling Seminar and Veterinary Perspectives
Jan 21-23-Julian Wolf Preserve, San Diego County CA
see seminars under http://www.wildlife-vet.com/ for details.

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      Ranchers Again Attempt To Stop Wolf Program, Coalition Files Motion Against Reintroduction

      By Mike Taugher Journal Staff Writer

      A coalition of New Mexico rancher organizations filed new court papers this week to halt the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves to the mountains of the Southwest.

      The coalition, led by the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, argues that the wolves are mixed breeds, with the genes of dogs or coyotes. The association also argues that wolves already exist in the wild in the Southwest.

      Scientists dispute both assertions. No hearing has been set on the ranchers' request for a preliminary injunction in an ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf reintroduction program in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest along the New Mexico-Arizona border.

      Until wolves were released earlier this year, the extremely rare subspecies of gray wolf was living only in captivity, scientists say. They base that belief on the fact that it has been decades since the last confirmed siting of a wolf in the wild.

      Peter Siminiski, who keeps track of the wolves' genetics at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, has told the Journal there is nothing to indicate there are dog or coyote genes in the Mexican wolves -- and that they are, in fact, wolves.

      But Caren Cowan, executive secretary of the New Mexico Cattle Growers, said Thursday that her group has obtained statements from people who claim to have seen wolves in the wild. And, Cowan said, her group plans to get a statement from Roy McBride, the Texas wolf trapper who caught three of the last wolves left in the wild nearly 30 years ago in Mexico. McBride is expected to say those wolves --forebears of the wolves now being reintroduced along the New Mexico-Arizona border -- were hybrids, Cowan said.

      "We don't want them to turn out any more wolves," said Cowan, whose Albuquerque offices were recently tagged with pro-wolf graffiti. Someone spray-painted "N.M. needs wolves" and "wolves" in red on the offices' facade.

      On Monday, the rancher organizations filed court papers asking U.S. District Judge Howard C. Bratton in Las Cruces to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from releasing more wolves. With four wolves now in the mountains, the agency plans to release 10 to 15 wolves next year, according to agency spokesman Tom Bauer.

      Bratton recently allowed environmental groups to intervene in the lawsuit by the ranchers. Kieran Suckling, director of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, said he was confident the ranch organizations would lose.

      "Hopefully, their members will start asking hard questions about why are these groups paying lawyers to make ridiculous arguments," he said.