Wolves to be removed from southwestern New Mexico
Associated Press - November 28, 2007 8:45 PM ET
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - More endangered Mexican gray wolves have been targeted for removal from the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says two adult females and pups of the Aspen Pack will be removed using “the most effective method.”
The wolf reintroduction program requires the permanent removal of any wolf linked to three livestock killings a year - either by trapping and keeping it in captivity or by shooting it.
Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown says the Aspen Pack has killed a horse and five cows since the beginning of the year.
The pack’s alpha male and another pup already have been captured and placed in captivity.
Federal biologists began releasing wolves on the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1998 to re-establish the species in part of its historic range after it had been hunted to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s… [more]