FAMOUS WOLF—LAST OF FRANCISCO PACK TO ROAM FREE—DIES FROM STRESS IN CAPTIVITY

Seven years ago, the first 11 Mexican gray wolves were reintroduced into the wild. On July 20, 2005, the last of those original lobos to roam free was accidentally killed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service three and a half weeks after she was trapped. Known as “Brunhilda” (for her large size as a pup, reminiscent of a figure in Norse mythology), wolf number 511 of the Francisco Pack died of stress and overheating during handling in captivity. Made famous by an image taken as she took her first steps of freedom in 1998, Brunhilda became a symbol of wolf recovery.

Brunhilda and her four pups were captured by the government in June. Her mate had been trapped earlier in the month, and had his leg amputated as a result of a trap injury. Her previous litter of five wild-conceived pups died in spring 2003 during a bout in captivity, most likely due to stress from the noise of a construction project near their pen. Brunhilda’s original mate was killed by a hit-and-run driver at the edge of Silver City after the pack was trapped from the wild in Arizona and released in New Mexico, where the pack then disintegrated and roamed individually.

Brunhilda was removed from the wild four times: the first two for leaving the arbitrary bounds of the Mexican wolf recovery area, and twice later for preying on cattle after she scavenged on carcasses of cattle she had not killed. Including her 2003 pups, she is the fifteenth Mexican gray wolf to die as a direct result of federal government predator control since the reintroduction program began.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has refused to address the problem of wolves habituating to livestock as a result of cattle and horse carcasses. It has also refused to rescind its requirement that wolves be captured for establishing home territories outside the recovery area. In 2001, independent scientists recommended these measures and warned that without them, wolf recovery would fall short of the program’s goals. Indeed, over the past four years many wolves have died or been removed from the wild as a result of the agency’s outmoded control policies.

Now the agency has made two new proposals that fly in the face of the scientists’ recommendations. Though scientists recommended that more wolves be allowed to live out their lives in the wild and fewer wolves be removed, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposes the opposite. In response to two private meetings with ranchers, the federal agency proposes a one-year moratorium on releases of additional wolves into the wild and on most re-releases (“translocations”) of wolves after their capture. The agency also proposes a more rigid set of standards (called “SOP 13”) for determining when wolves should be removed from the wild or killed—leaving field biologists less flexibility to make that determination based on individual wolves’ cases.

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson have both shown public support for the wolf reintroduction program in the past. You can help by thanking these governors for the steps they have taken to support the program, and urging them to use their influence to encourage representatives in their states’ Game and Fish Departments to oppose the proposed anti-wolf policies:

1) Ask them to oppose both moratoriums—one halting the release of additional wolves to the wild and one halting most translocations of captured wolves.

2) Ask them to oppose SOP 13, a rigid predator-control protocol that would lead to the capture and killing of more wolves.

The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Adaptive Management Oversight Committee is expected to vote on these proposals shortly—please take a moment today to call Governors Napolitano and Richardson.

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, (602) 542-4331
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, (505) 476-2200

Center for Biological Diversity | PO Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 | 520-623-5252 | [email protected]

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