Update courtesy Patrick C. Valentino of the Julian Wolf Preserve

November 17, 1998

1. Two female wolves were released on Monday, Nov 16th in the Blue Mountains as previously reported. Babbitt met Monday morning in Albuquerque with state and federal law enforcement officers from Arizona and New Mexico, and he promised to provide whatever resources are needed to bring the killer or killers to justice.
2. This winter four additional wolf packs are planned to be released, part of a multiyear plan to eventually have more than 100 wild wolves scattered over 5,000 square miles of land along the Arizona-New Mexico line.
3. Babbitt left open the possibility that a federal investigation may not be over for a Tucson man, Humphrey, who killed the first wolf in April -- a controversial shooting that was ruled an act of self-defense. He said decisions in the case involving retired postal worker Richard Humphrey are up to law enforcement agents. But when pressed for whether the case may be reopened, Babbitt said, "I'd just rather not comment on it." The interior secretary, who heads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said there is no evidence that Humphrey or any member of his family was under attack. And he said it remains true that there is no documented case of a healthy wild wolf in North America this century ever attacking a human being. "I don't think the facts support any inference that the wolf was anything other than an animal that happened to be in the neighborhood," Babbitt said.

----------------------------------------

Wolves released, killers warned Wolf "here to stay," Babbitt says By Steve Yozwiak - The Arizona Republic - 11/17/98 http://www.azcentral.com/news/1117wolves.shtml