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Update courtesy Patrick C. Valentino of the Julian Wolf Preserve

December 31, 1998

Article on Mexican Wolf Shootings from the Abq Journal:
Saturday, December 19, 1998

Elk Hunters To Get Wolf-Letter Apology
Interior Boss Regrets 'Accusatory' Survey

      Hunters who received an "accusatory, threatening"questionnaire asking if they shot an endangered Mexican gray wolf last month will be receiving apologies. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said through a spokesman Friday that he regrets that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigators sent the letter to 240 elk hunters. "The tone of it and the accusatory environment it creates were just wrong," said Mike Gauldin, Babbitt's spokesman. "He (Babbitt) understands what the Fish and Wildlife Service was trying to do," Gauldin said. "They were trying to find who killed our wolves ... the American people's wolves. "He thinks it was poorly done in this case."

      Recipients of the questionnaire should disregard it, Gauldin said. The wildlife agency plans to send letters of apology next week. "They finally came to their senses, and they are doing the right thing," said Rod Hawman, a Silver City retiree who was among the hunters in the Luna area in early November.

      The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to include more polite requests for information in its letters to hunters. Hawman said he would not object to that. "Too bad they weren't smart enough to do that the first time," he said.

      Some of the questions in the questionnaire included:

      The decision to denounce the survey and apologize came after two days of meetings between top Fish and Wildlife and Interior Department officials in Washington, D.C. The questionnaire was brought to their attention by outraged New Mexico lawmakers. Republican Sen. Pete Domenici called it "accusatory, threatening and totally inappropriate." Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., called it "insulting and intimidating." And Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M., called it "idiotic." I can't believe somebody with a brain put that together," Skeen said.

      The questionnaire was adapted from a template developed by a private Phoenix firm called the Laboratory for Scientific Interrogation, according to Interior Department officials. Investigators in the Fish and Wildlife Service have used it in the past, but Babbitt has ordered a review of how it should be used in the future, if at all, Gauldin said.

      Investigators sent the questionnaire to all elk hunters who received licenses to shoot female elk and immature male elk during a five-day hunt in the area around Luna, about 14 miles northwest of Reserve in Catron County. The hunt was open to hunters using muzzle-loaders.

      Of 11 Mexican wolves released in March, five have been shot to death. One of those was found dead in or near the Luna-area hunting unit on opening day of the elk hunt -- Nov. 7. Four of the wolf shootings remain unsolved. An Arizona camper reported shooting one of the wolves, saying he was defending his family.

      Theories about why the other wolves were shot include the possibility that hunters mistook the wolves for coyotes. While shooting an endangered wolf carries a possible prison term and fine, the shooting of coyotes is unregulated in New Mexico.

      In Arizona, one needs only a hunting license to shoot an unlimited number of coyotes. Some, however, believe the wolves have been shot by a group or individual opposing the release.

      Until the wolf release in March, scientists say Mexican wolves have been extinct in the wild for decades.

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