Speak Up about Mexican Wolves!

To:  Dr Benjamin Tuggle US Fish & Wildlife Service

We the undersigned are writing to urge you to not allow the political complexities of the Mexican wolf project in Arizona and New Mexico to overwhelm the biological and legal realities of the project. It is the job of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to secure recovery of an endangered species through the use of best science practices and adherence to the strictures of the law, and to not allow the pressures of special interest groups to cloud management decisions.

Efforts to establish a viable population of Mexican wolves in the wild have not been successful to date, yet no one is questioning the real science behind why this might be. Each wolf in the project costs US taxpayers an average of $285,000. Documented damages to people living in the project area include psychological trauma, depredations on pets, horses and livestock, constant stress from habituation, the need to build bus stop shelters to protect children. Bad management means these costs will never end, but will rather increase

Mexican wolves are a desert species, not a species that evolved hunting and living in mixed conifer high-altitude forests of the Mexican wolf project area. These wolves once ranged from central Mexico to southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona - but the high-altitude mixed conifer forests of west central New Mexico and east central Arizona were not part of Mexican wolves’ regular territory; that area was already populated by a different wolf species, the Mogollon wolf (Canis lupus mogollonensis).

Pro-wolf organizations say Mexican wolves play an important role in restoring balance to Southwest forests but how can balance be restored when in fact the introduction of Mexican wolves has added a totally new factor to the environment?

Dr. Tuggle, the US FWS should be looking at why the Mexican wolf is not thriving in the project area, instead of how to force wolves to live there. We are asking you to acknowledge that the very basis for wolf management in the Southwest may be flawed and to accept that a non-essential, experimental population may call for unique adaptive management. We additionally ask you to implement management practices that are appropriately and cautiously developed, and that are based on best science practices rather than the recommendations of special interest groups. We also request that the Service use pro-active approaches to wolf management to protect human safety and interests, particularly ensuring that inappropriate wolves are not released into the wild (including wolves with a history of predation and/or habituation behavior, and wolves which have been raised primarily in captivity).

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Speak Up about Mexican Wolves! Petition to Dr Benjamin Tuggle US Fish & Wildlife Service was created by and written by Lif Strand (lif.strand@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.