WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, July 26, 2007
Catron County Ordinance Threatens Mexican Wolf

Conservation Groups Challenge Local Law
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Contact: Melissa Hailey, WildEarth Guardians Staff Attorney (505) 988-9126 x1159 Rob Edward, Sinapu Carnivore Restoration Program Director (303) 918-8073 (cell)

Santa Fe, NM-WildEarth Guardians and Sinapu filed suit in federal district court yesterday morning in order to invalidate a Catron County ordinance that seeks to ratchet up wolf kills by authorizing county officials to remove wolves in ways and for reasons strictly prohibited by the Endangered Species Act.

Once eradicated from the United States on behalf of livestock interests, today fewer than 50 Mexican gray wolves exist in the wild. Federal authorities have reintroduced Mexican wolves to the Gila and Apache National Forests in an attempt to further the conservation of this species. But the Mexican wolf recovery program has been roadblocked by conflicts with public lands ranchers. Approximately 20 Mexican gray wolves have been shot or otherwise removed from the wild since 2005 for conflicts with cattle.

Catron County, in southwestern New Mexico, has been vocally opposed to Mexican gray wolf reintroduction and recovery since the program's inception. Now, claiming that county residents are being "psychologically traumatized" by the presence of wolves, the Catron County Commission consecrated its wolf intolerance by passing what conservation groups call an unlawful local law (Ordinance No. 001-2007). Because the ordinance authorizes county officials to stalk, trap, remove, or otherwise injure Mexican wolves in violation of the Endangered Species Act, the groups say the ordinance is unconstitutional and invalid.

"As a federally protected species, the Mexican gray wolf should not be held hostage by backward local laws," says Melissa Hailey, staff attorney with WildEarth Guardians. "What Catron County has done is blatantly illegal and risks driving Mexican wolves to extinction in the wild for the second time in history."

The groups hope that overturning Catron County's ordinance will provide some real relief for wolves on the ground. The county has twice invoked its ordinance to demand wolf removals and has even attempted to trap these wolves when federal authorities did not respond to its demands.

"The Mexican gray wolf is literally teetering on the brink of extinction," says Rob Edward, Director of Sinapu's Carnivore Restoration Program. "At a time when the federal government is claiming victory on wolf recovery nationally, Catron County wants to sign the death warrant for the rarest members this species. This is the line in the sand; we won't let the Mexican gray wolf go extinct."