Liberty Belle
Well-known member
This just makes me furious!! I can only imagine how you ranchers in New Mexico feel.
Another display of arrogance by the USFW. Unless there is something in our US Constitution that I missed, the feds have no right to tell the states what they can or cannot do to protect their citizens.
They forget that they are employees of the taxpayers and unless we rise up and remind them of that fact, they are going to keep abusing their power while trampling on our rights.
New Mexico county wants to remove wolf from ranch
ALBUQUERQUE -- Catron County has put the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on notice that it intends to trap and remove a Mexican gray wolf it says has been stalking a southwestern New Mexico ranch.
The wolf _ designated AF924 for alpha female 924 _ was released in the county April 25. The next day, county officials demanded it be removed as an "imminent danger." Fish and Wildlife rejected the demand.
Catron County officials said Monday that the wolf has been seen around Mike and Debbie Miller's ranch since her release and that they twice asked Fish and Wildlife to remove the animal. On Thursday, the county issued a "24-hour notice of intent" to trap the wolf and turn her over to Fish and Wildlife.
"We'd like to trap her and give her back," County Manager Bill Aymar said by telephone from his office in Reserve.
Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Charna Lefton said the agency received the county's notice Friday.
But, she said, it has no reason to remove the wolf under the rules of the 1998 program to reintroduce endangered Mexican gray wolves into the Southwest. The rules call for Fish and Wildlife to remove any wolf linked to three livestock killings within a year.
AF924 killed two cows before being released in Catron County. Aymar said the county wants her moved before she kills a third _ subjecting her to the program's own three strikes rule.
Debbie Miller said wolves show up near the ranch house and barn as well as a calving area five miles away. Two hung around the barn for four hours Sunday, she said.
County wolf interaction investigator Jess Carey has been stationed at the Millers' ranch since Friday.
"Jess and the county, they're the only ones who are trying to help," Debbie Miller said.
Carey _ using night vision goggles _ said he watched a wolf nip a calf at the Millers' calving operation about midnight Sunday. He said the wolf followed the calf and its mother as the cow pushed the calf toward other cows for protection. When the wolf left, Carey spent much of the rest of the night tracking it to within a mile of the ranch, he said.
"This problem isn't going to go away," Carey said. "If it takes myself and the commission to go to jail to bring something about, then that's what going to happen."
An ordinance passed by Catron County in February claims the right to remove wolves that are accustomed to humans or have a high probability of harming children or defenseless people, physically or psychologically. The county said in April it would use that ordinance against AF924.
Fish and Wildlife told county officials that the Endangered Species Act supersedes county ordinances and that any unauthorized action against the wolf would mean federal prosecution.
The county's notice said federal agencies did not respond to its demand for the wolf's removal or take action "to reduce the risk to humans from AF924." Fish and Wildlife's only response, the county said, was to send law enforcement officers to watch Carey.
Lefton said the officers were sent to make sure the wolf is not injured and that there's no violation of federal law.
AF924 has had pups since her release. If she's trapped and removed _ regardless who does that _ Fish and Wildlife would have to try to find the pups and remove them as well, Lefton said.
Catron County also said a psychiatrist diagnosed the Millers' 13-year-old daughter with post traumatic stress disorder caused by wolves, but said treatment would be useless if the wolves remain.
Lefton said Fish and Wildlife has no reason to believe AF924 is a threat to the public.
"We understand the family is upset, but there's no data or precedent to think these animals are a threat to the public safety," she said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=6707646
Another display of arrogance by the USFW. Unless there is something in our US Constitution that I missed, the feds have no right to tell the states what they can or cannot do to protect their citizens.
They forget that they are employees of the taxpayers and unless we rise up and remind them of that fact, they are going to keep abusing their power while trampling on our rights.
New Mexico county wants to remove wolf from ranch
ALBUQUERQUE -- Catron County has put the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on notice that it intends to trap and remove a Mexican gray wolf it says has been stalking a southwestern New Mexico ranch.
The wolf _ designated AF924 for alpha female 924 _ was released in the county April 25. The next day, county officials demanded it be removed as an "imminent danger." Fish and Wildlife rejected the demand.
Catron County officials said Monday that the wolf has been seen around Mike and Debbie Miller's ranch since her release and that they twice asked Fish and Wildlife to remove the animal. On Thursday, the county issued a "24-hour notice of intent" to trap the wolf and turn her over to Fish and Wildlife.
"We'd like to trap her and give her back," County Manager Bill Aymar said by telephone from his office in Reserve.
Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Charna Lefton said the agency received the county's notice Friday.
But, she said, it has no reason to remove the wolf under the rules of the 1998 program to reintroduce endangered Mexican gray wolves into the Southwest. The rules call for Fish and Wildlife to remove any wolf linked to three livestock killings within a year.
AF924 killed two cows before being released in Catron County. Aymar said the county wants her moved before she kills a third _ subjecting her to the program's own three strikes rule.
Debbie Miller said wolves show up near the ranch house and barn as well as a calving area five miles away. Two hung around the barn for four hours Sunday, she said.
County wolf interaction investigator Jess Carey has been stationed at the Millers' ranch since Friday.
"Jess and the county, they're the only ones who are trying to help," Debbie Miller said.
Carey _ using night vision goggles _ said he watched a wolf nip a calf at the Millers' calving operation about midnight Sunday. He said the wolf followed the calf and its mother as the cow pushed the calf toward other cows for protection. When the wolf left, Carey spent much of the rest of the night tracking it to within a mile of the ranch, he said.
"This problem isn't going to go away," Carey said. "If it takes myself and the commission to go to jail to bring something about, then that's what going to happen."
An ordinance passed by Catron County in February claims the right to remove wolves that are accustomed to humans or have a high probability of harming children or defenseless people, physically or psychologically. The county said in April it would use that ordinance against AF924.
Fish and Wildlife told county officials that the Endangered Species Act supersedes county ordinances and that any unauthorized action against the wolf would mean federal prosecution.
The county's notice said federal agencies did not respond to its demand for the wolf's removal or take action "to reduce the risk to humans from AF924." Fish and Wildlife's only response, the county said, was to send law enforcement officers to watch Carey.
Lefton said the officers were sent to make sure the wolf is not injured and that there's no violation of federal law.
AF924 has had pups since her release. If she's trapped and removed _ regardless who does that _ Fish and Wildlife would have to try to find the pups and remove them as well, Lefton said.
Catron County also said a psychiatrist diagnosed the Millers' 13-year-old daughter with post traumatic stress disorder caused by wolves, but said treatment would be useless if the wolves remain.
Lefton said Fish and Wildlife has no reason to believe AF924 is a threat to the public.
"We understand the family is upset, but there's no data or precedent to think these animals are a threat to the public safety," she said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=6707646