WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, August 23, 2007
Federal Investigation Sought into Intimidation of Wolf Biologist by Rogue Federal Agency

USDA Wildlife Services predator control agent pointed a rifle at a New Mexico Game and Fish Department biologist at the scene of the latest Mexican gray wolf killing in New Mexico
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Additional Contact: Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity (505) 534-0360

SANTA FE, NM - Eight conservation groups led by WildEarth Guardians today requested a federal investigation into allegations that a USDA Wildlife Services predator control agent pointed a rifle at a New Mexico Game and Fish Department biologist at the scene of the latest Mexican gray wolf killing in the state. In their formal request to the USDA Inspector General’s Office, the groups argue that such serious claims of federal misconduct cannot be left to local, anti-wolf authorities.

The incident occurred on July 5, 2007. Previous media reports state that Angela Dassow, a 26-year-old New Mexico Game and Fish biologist, was sent to personally deliver a message to Wildlife Services employees that the lethal control order under which they were operating to kill the alpha female of the Mexican gray wolf Durango Pack had been suspended. Ms. Dassow was able to locate the three Wildlife Services agents dispatched to kill AF924 in Catron County. She was not, however, able to communicate with the agents before they had gunned the wolf down.

The personal interaction between Ms. Dassow and Wildlife Services agents that day escalated into a threatening encounter. Ms. Dassow claims that one of the agents pointed a rifle at her, saying that she had no business being there. Although she left the scene physically unharmed, Ms. Dassow left her position with the State soon thereafter. Ms. Dassow’s departure was not the only consequence of the incident. Escalating wolf removals, the killing of AF924, and the incident between Wildlife Services and Ms. Dassow inspired Governor Richardson to call for the immediate suspension of the wolf removal policy in New Mexico.

While the Catron County Sheriff’s Department has said it will launch an investigation into the incident, conservation groups want federal oversight. “Catron County has been notoriously outspoken in their opposition to the survival and recovery of Mexican gray wolves in the Gila National Forest,” says Melissa Hailey, attorney with WildEarth Guardians. “Allegations of federal misconduct deserve a federal investigation. Because of anti-wolf statements made publicly by elected officials in Catron County, citizens would be better served by having the investigation conducted by law enforcement officers without any real or apparent conflict of interest.”

In their request to the Inspector General’s Office, the conservation groups seek an investigation into whether one or more of these Wildlife Service agents threatened Ms. Dassow with bodily harm or engaged in any other form of intimidation against her.

Although the groups do not claim to know whether Ms. Dassow’s story is true, they believe it is certainly plausible. “USDA Wildlife Services has a long history of deception and skullduggery,” said the Center for Biological Diversity’s Michael Robinson, who wrote a history of the federal agency entitled Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West. Robinson’s book recounts illicit wildlife shooting and poisoning operations in which Wildlife Services personnel were involved, as well as threatening behavior by agency staff against Santa Fe wildlife activist Patricia Wolff in 1992.

Joining WildEarth Guardians in their request for federal investigation include the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, Southwest Environmental Center, Animal Protection of New Mexico, Animal Protection Voters, and Sinapu. The groups assert that, at the very least, Ms. Dassow’s allegations of Wildlife Services’ misconduct warrant an official USDA investigation.

WildEarth Guardians and Sinapu took action last month challenging Catron County’s anti-wolf ordinance passed earlier this year.