Government agents and environmental groups are
offering $25,000 to anyone who turns in those responsible for
killing Mexican gray wolves. The reward followed an announcement by
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigators that a wolf found dead
near the Arizona-New Mexico border in early November had died of a
gunshot wound. It was the fourth shooting since Fish and Wildlife
reintroduced 11 Mexican wolves into the Apache National Forest last
spring.
“I call it terrorism,” says Phoenix wolf
activist Bobbie Holaday. “There’s a systematic effort by somebody
to sabotage the (reintroduction) program,” she says. “They’re
trying to terrify the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and wolf
advocates into abandoning the program, and that’s not going to
happen.”
Fish and Wildlife Regional Director
Nancy Kaufman vowed to “hit this investigation hard.” Her agency
teamed with Defenders of Wildlife and local conservation groups to
offer the reward.
Wolf advocates have criticized
the Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to prosecute a Tucson
mail carrier who shot a wolf on a camping trip in April. Richard
Humphrey claimed he shot the wolf because it was charging his wife.
Lab reports showed the wolf was shot
broadside.
“If they would have made an example
out of him like they should have,” says Holaday, “I don’t think we
would have seen all this wolf killing.”
So far,
the Mexican wolves have steered clear of livestock, feeding on wild
game instead. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt helped move two
female wolves into pens in November. Later this winter, they will
join the three male wolves remaining in the
wild.
Anyone with information about the wolf
deaths can call Arizona Game and Fish Department at 800/352-0700 or
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 602/835-8289.
*Greg Hanscom
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bounty on wolf killers.
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