Compare

the following stories and note that wolves were re-introduced in Yellowstone 10 years ago. In that whole region, they number around 900.

Wolves were released in New Mexico about 5 years ago. We’re supposed to believe that 6 pairs will sustain the population. Nonsense.

mjh

Feds study gray wolf delisting – billingsgazette.com

By

MIKE STARK Of The Gazette Staff

Federal officials on Monday said it may be time to remove gray wolves in the northern Rocky

Mountains from the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it will begin an in-depth look at the wolf

population and decide whether to propose delisting the wolf. …

In order for wolves to be delisted, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming

need approved plans to manage wolves once responsibility is passed to the states from the federal government. …

Wolves

were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and portions of Idaho in 1995 and 1996.

Today, the population is

estimated to be around 900. Numbers have declined recently in Yellowstone, Wyoming and portions of Montana, according to some of the

latest numbers. The population appears to be still growing in Idaho, Bangs said.

ABQjournal: Mexican Gray Wolf Treated for Injuries After Being Hurt by

Trap By Tania Soussan Journal Staff Writer

An endangered Mexican gray wolf was being treated by a veterinarian

Tuesday after she was spotted running around in the wild with a steel leg-hold trap stuck on a front leg. A researcher

working with the wolf reintroduction program saw the alpha female of the Luna Pack with her mate and two 6-month-old pups feeding on an

elk carcass in a large meadow southeast of Reserve on Saturday. He tried unsuccessfully to shoot her with a tranquilizer dart.

On

Monday, a helicopter with a professional gunner aboard was able to catch her in a net gun, said wolf recovery coordinator John Morgart of

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque.

"She was very mobile," he said. "She was running around and

dragging this trap." The wolf was tranquilized and the trap removed, but there was extensive damage just above her

paw. She is being evaluated by a vet in Arizona and likely will be returned to the wild soon. Even if her paw or leg has to be

amputated, she could go back to her pack, Morgart said.

"Canines in general do adapt very quickly to life on three

legs," he said. The trap could have been set legally to capture a coyote or other animal, but Fish and Wildlife Service law

enforcement officers are conducting a routine investigation to make sure there was no foul play involved, Morgart said.

ABQjournal: Wolf Releases May Be Restricted Next Year
By Tania

Soussan Journal Staff Writer

Releases of endangered Mexican gray wolves likely will be severely

restricted next year under a policy approved recently by the multiagency group overseeing wolf reintroduction in the

Southwest. The Adaptive Management Oversight Committee adopted a moratorium on releases and several program

rules during a meeting Thursday in Arizona, said wolf recovery coordinator John Morgart of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in

Albuquerque.

If there are at least six pairs of successfully breeding wolves in the wild at the end of

this year, no new wolf packs without experience in the wild will be released in 2006 In addition, a controversial new

rule says wolves that have killed livestock three times must be permanently removed from the wild, either by trapping or shooting.