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Update courtesy Patrick C. Valentino of the Julian Wolf Preserve
This was just reported/fwd to me from Tom Beno of the Wolf Justice League:
==============================A pack of recently released Mexican gray wolves that has had several encounters with dogs and cattle in the Clifton area over the past few months may have killed a cow and two calves.
Wildlife officials are investigating the claim by T-Links Ranch manager Billy Wilson, who said wolf tracks were found around the livestock carcasses.
Wilson said the wolves fed from the cow's body, which was found entangled in a barbed-wire fence, and killed the calves.
Ranchers have opposed the government program to reintroduce the wolves to the wilds of eastern Arizona since its inception last year because they feared attacks on cattle.
Five of 11 wolves set free in 1998 were shot to death and another is missing and presumed dead. The remaining five were recaptured, with two now re-released.
There are no plans to relocate the pack said Tom Bauer, U.S. Fish & Wildlife spokesman, "but we are considering that option."
A biologist with the USDA Wildlife Services' wolf management program will make the final determination about what killed the cattle, Bauer said.
Field staff of the wolf recovery program have been monitoring the Pipestem pack - an adult pair and their yearling daughter released March 15 - for weeks. The only wolves in the area, the pack has stayed together since the death of another female pup, apparently hit by a car on March 21, and may be tending new pups.
The T-Links Ranch, 20 miles north of Clifton, shares a fence with the Mallet Ranch, where the wolves reportedly have had several encounters.
On June 9, the pack traveled several miles to the ranch house, where a dog was found with a minor bite on its front leg. On three other occasions, twice in April and once in May, the wolves have harassed dogs near the ranch house and may have chased cattle.
Biologists have set up temporary quarters at the ranch and are staying there at night to "aversely condition" the wolves any time they return.
There are at least two dozen Mexican gray wolves, extinct here since 1970, free ranging in five packs in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest of eastern Arizona.
Two adult wolves and their three pups - called the Hawk's Nest pack - set free June 3 represent the last wolves planned for release here this year, though a high mortality rate could prompt more releases.
Patrick C. Valentino, Esq
Phone: (619) 236-9060
Fax: (619) 236-9093
email: corporatecounsel@connectnet.com