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Update courtesy Patrick C. Valentino of the Julian Wolf Preserve
Something I was hoping we would not hear for some time, this AP/Rueters report was just brought to my attention regarding a Mexican wolf found dead along Higway191. 191 runs north - south through the reintroduction zone. The wolf was found in the southern end of the Recovery Area which is bounded by Clifton-Morenci to the south and Alpine to the North. In the southern end near Clifton, it is not uncommon to see cattle along 191. I dont know which wolf this is, but it was probably from the Turkey Creek release pen which is about 16 miles north of Clifton.
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PHOENIX (AP) - Free only six days, a young Mexican gray wolf was found dead along a highway near the Arizona-New Mexico line.
The 10-month-old wolf, found Sunday by a motorist, was set free on March 15 along with another female pup and two adults, federal officials said Monday.
Hans Stuart, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, N.M., said the wolf was found along Highway 191, 16 miles north of the ranching community of Clifton.
He said officials did not know how the wolf died. The body was sent to Oregon for lab tests, results of which should be available in about three weeks, Stuart said.
The dead wolf was found just two miles from the acclamation pen where she and the rest of the family group had spent two months before being released in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
The remaining three wolves from the group - two adults and another female juvenile - will remain free, Stuart said. In all, five Mexican gray wolves, including a pair released in December, are free.
Mexican gray wolves are native to Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico but were shot, poisoned and trapped to near extinction by the 1970s.
Federal and state officials began releasing wolves back into the wild last year, but so far, the program has been off to a rocky start. Of the original 11 released early last year, five were found shot to death, a sixth is missing and presumed dead, and the others had to be recaptured.
Here is some additional information on the pup that was found dead. I will only forward new information on this recent issue. Some people have asked about the location of the Pen, being two miles from Hwy 191. The pen's location is remote in two ways: 1. The nearest town is more than 16 miles away; and 2. I had directions to the pen during the pen building and I still could not find it. This pen appeared more remote to us then the other two (Hawks Nest and Campbell Blue)
However wolves will travel and eventually find roads and people no matter how deep in the forest.
Pat Valentino
Julian Wolf Preserve
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``We're going to have to wait until the lab gets it and goes over the body to determine why it died,'' said David Parsons, head of the Mexican gray wolf recovery program.
Five of the first 11 Mexican gray wolves released into the wild last year died of gunshot wounds. A camper who said he shot one of the wolves because he felt threatened was not prosecuted. The other killers have not been caught, despite rewards of more than $50,000.
The latest death will not affect the future of the reintroduction program, said Parsons and recovery team biologist Wendy Brown. ``Wolves are sometimes going to die from one thing or another,'' Brown said yesterday. ``We'll just go forward.'' Five reintroduced Mexican gray wolves remain free. Nine more will be released in the next two months, she said.
Wolf No. 563 was found dead about two miles west of its release site in the Apache National Forest. She had been released with her parents and a female litter-mate, and all four wolves were wearing fluorescent radio collars. Wolf 563 was last monitored by radio on Saturday, Parsons said. Brown said 563 had been traveling with her parents shortly before her death.
``I can't tell you 100 percent whether they were together at the time of the death, because we don't know,'' she said. ``But that pup had been with its parents.''
The wolf family was raised at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, N.M.
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/125-7839.html