ABQjournal: Around N.M.
Noted Gray Wolf Dies at Refuge

Brunhilda, the charismatic Mexican gray wolf who became a star of the federal government’s wolf reintroduction program and an enemy to ranchers because of her taste for cattle, died Thursday.

Brunhilda, known as No. 511 in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf program, died when she overheated during a routine capture and medical checkup at the Servilleta National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro. The head of the agency in the Southwest called her death “a sad loss.”

She had been taken from the Gila National Forest less than a month ago to spend her life in captivity after she and her pack started killing cows on grazing allotments in the forest.

Born in captivity, Brunhilda became the face of the controversial program when, as a saucy 9-month-old pup, she bounded from a cage in 1998 as one of the first wolves introduced into the wild.

This was the paragon of wolves and she would not be dead if ranchers were reasonable or held proportionate power. mjh