20
Feb
2019 Initial Release and Translocation Plan
SPEAK OUT TODAY FOR MEXICAN WOLVES
Public Comment Period closes Thursday, February 28
The 2019 Release and Translocation Plan outlines management options for initial release(s) and translocation(s) of Mexican wolves into the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area (MWEPA) in Arizona and New Mexico for the year.
Despite our efforts to highlight a dismal success rate in the past years, the agencies continue to focus only on introducing individual pups rather than bonded family packs. The release of bonded family packs will immediately increase the genetic diversity of the wild population by placing breeding age wolves onto the landscape.
The USFWS must hear from wolf advocates, like you, who support family pack releases!
Suggested talking points for your comments and outreach:
- The US Fish & Wildlife Service continues to give Arizona and New Mexico control over reintroduction by not even planning to ask for permission to release well-bonded adult pairs with pups.
- The Plan calls for trying to take 12 captive born pups and place them with foster mothers in wild dens — but has no provisions for accountability or a “fallback” to keep the genetic health from deteriorating if this goal is not met.
- In the time that the US Fish & Wildlife Service took to go from a draft release plan to a final one for 2019, the genetic health of the wild population has worsened: There now are only two wild wolves not related to a wolf [AF 521] whose genes are over-represented.
- Because the US Fish & Wildlife Service has handed off release decisions to Arizona and New Mexico state agencies, it plans on “putting all its pups in one basket” — that is, it specifically rejects using adult releases because the US Fish & Wildlife Service claims they are too much work.
- By relying solely on placing pups into existing dens, the US Fish & Wildife Service is caving in to Arizona and New Mexico who want to slow the dispersal of wild wolves into additional — legally authorized — suitable habitat.
You may submit written responses by one of the following methods:
Electronically: You may email mexicanwolfcomments@fws.gov. Responses submitted electronically must be received by 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time on February 28, 2019.
By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail to: Mexican Wolf Recovery Program, Attn: 2019 Proposed Releases in NM; 2105 Osuna Rd NE; Albuquerque, NM 87113.
Responses submitted by U.S. mail must be received by February 28, 2019.
Please send us a copy of your comments to info@mexicanwolves.org so we can be sure it goes into the record. Thank you!
