Wildlife

New Mexico’s large carnivores are at risk

Dear Chapter activists,

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is proposing to undo years of progressive and science based management of Cougars and Bears by proposing new allowable kill quotas that are extreme.

"By prohibiting traps and snares to protect our beleaguered lobos, Governor Richardson has again shown tremendous leadership to help wolves gain recovery," stated Mary Katherine Ray, Wildlife Chair of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. "Wolves bring millions of tourism dollars to Yellowstone. Directing the Department of Tourism to examine the potential for wolf tourism in New Mexico will benefit not only our wolves but also the economy of the Gila region and New Mexico," she added.

Trapping for fur and predator control is still legal on almost all of New Mexico’s wild lands including the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area in the Gila National Forest. Highly endangered wolves are being captured, injured and maimed by the steel jawed leg-hold traps which are legally allowed where wolves are located.

Please ask federal officials to prohibit traps from the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area in the Gila National Forest.

The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierran Club, Wild Earth Guardians, and the Southwest Environmental Center have sent a petition to the US Forest Service and the US Fish & Wildlife Service to stop trapping and snaring of wolves in the Gila National Forest.

by Mary Katherine Ray, Chapter Wildlife Chair

The recent Tenth Circuit ruling voiding a decade of litigation challenging A federal agencies' ESA approach well illustrates (see article this page), often process can overwhelm substance when it comes to species management. Not only can technical legal issues swamp more philosophical disagreements over land and water use priorities or the best methods for helping an endangered species like the Rio Grande silvery minnow recover from the verge of extinction, but politics among regional "stakeholders" can often drown out sound science.

On April 21st, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit finally issued its ruling involving a crucial issue for Endangered Species Act (ESA) "consultations" on federal water project operations, and federal agency activities in general.

Since the furbearer rules were last reviewed in 2006, New Mexico has killed more bobcats than any other western state, over 10,600 between the years 2006 and 2009. (Last winter’s figures have not been tallied) An outbreak of rabies has cut a swath through fox populations on the Arizona border spilling into bobcats as well. This area is also the most heavily trapped for foxes in the entire state and this exploitation and disease are both ongoing. Heavy snows this past winter across the state have doubtless added to mortality.

It is only fitting that Mexico is now planning to reintroduce lobos into their own country because the last Mexican wolves known to be in the wild were captured there in the late 1970s and placed into captivity to save the entire species. Five wolves will be released into the Sierra San Luis Mountains about 100 miles south of the Arizona/New Mexico border.

Code red: New Mexico wolves need your help! The end of 2009 count of Mexican wolves in the wild is sadly disappointing. In Arizona, the number went up from 23 to 29, but the count in New Mexico is down from 29 to only 15!