**pulled from Yahoo news, written by SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – American wildlife officials and ranchers are raising questions over a plan to release a rare North American gray wolf to its historic range in northern Mexico: Will it stay south of the border and what can be done if it threatens livestock?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said this week it learned of the plan to release captive-bred Mexican gray wolves during a meeting with Mexican officials.

A male, female and two yearlings could be released in Sonora state, bordering Arizona and New Mexico, as early as October. Another release is planned for December and more could happen next year as part of an effort by both countries to return the wolves to the wild.

“I think we kind of assumed it would happen eventually but we didn’t realize it was going to happen this quickly,” said Charna Lefton, regional spokeswoman with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque.

The Mexican agency that oversees natural resources and the environment, known as SEMARNAT, did not immediately respond to telephone and email requests for comment.

While wildlife officials and conservationists generally support the move, Lefton says “everyone is asking the same questions.”

What if the wolves cross into the United States? Will they be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act? Or will they have the same “nonessential, experimental” designation as wolves released as part of a reintroduction effort in New Mexico and Arizona?

The Fish and Wildlife Service has posed those questions to the agency’s attorneys and are hoping for answers in coming weeks. The agency also plans another meeting with Mexican officials.

The Mexican wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf, was exterminated in the wild in the Southwest by the 1930s after a campaign by the federal government to control the predator.

A handful of wolves were captured in Mexico in the late 1970s to save the animal from extinction. In 1998, the U.S. government began reintroducing wolves along the Arizona-New Mexico line in a 4 million-acre territory. Biologists had hoped to have at least 100 wolves by now, but recent surveys show about half that. It’s unclear how many wolves are in Mexico’s Sonora state.

The wolves in Arizona and New Mexico do not have full protection under the Endangered Species Act because they are designated as “experimental,” giving game officials greater flexibility to manage them and even allows permanent removal — by capturing or killing — after three confirmed livestock kills in a year.

Conservationists contend any wolves found outside the reintroduction area in the two states would be protected under the Endangered Species Act unless the Fish and Wildlife seeks a contrary rule.

Wolves returning to the wild in Mexico only complicates a troubled effort in the United States, especially if the animals cross the border, said Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association.

“You’ve got the potential of wolves coming down on you from the north that have one endangered status, and you’ve got wolves coming from the south that may have a different status,” she said. “How are you supposed to tell the difference?”

Conservationists are encouraged by Mexico’s plans, saying more wolves in the wild will help ensure species survival. If the U.S. and Mexico populations mingle, that would bolster the animal’s limited genetic pool.

Whether you view wolves as a predator on the prowl for livestock, or an integral part of the intricate wildlife ecosystem, mysterious and majestic, the history and controversy surrounding the gray wolf in the northern Rockies is fascinating. The U.S. government has both served to destroy and then protect wolves throughout the last century into this one.

In early 2008 Gray Wolves, with a current estimated population of 2,000, were removed from the list of animals protected under the “Endangered Species Act” in the northern Rockies.

On July 18th, 2008, U.S. District Judge Donald Malloy granted a preliminary injunction of the previous ruling, thus restoring federal protection for Wolves in the Idaho, Montana and Wyoming areas.
In the 1930s the US Government nearly wiped out the population of wolves in the West with an eradication program that involved poisoning.

In 1974 Wolves were listed as an endangered species, and since that time the government has spent more than $27 million dollars on recovery and restoration efforts in the northern Rocky Mountain region.

During the 1980s the wolf had a meager 200 miles of territory around Glacier National Park in Montana to roam. 66 wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone National Park and the central Idaho area in the mid 1990s as part of a 13 year restoration effort that has helped the wolf population, which now covers approximately 113,000 square miles, grow dramatically. According to Interior deputy secretary Lynn Scarlett, “The Wolf’s Recovery in the northern Rocky Mountains is a success story”.

Ranchers however, have a different point of view. Restoration efforts have been unpopular with ranchers and others since the three states began the program and many state leaders want the wolf population thinned considerably. The larger the wolf population, the more livestock is preyed upon. Under the Endangered Species Act, ranchers are allowed to kill wolves in response to livestock conflict. 724 legal wolf kills have been recorded. It is estimated that approximately the same number of wolves have been killed illegally by poachers. Despite the number of wolves that have been killed over the past 20 years, the wolf population continues to grow at the rate of 24% per year.

According to Federal Officials, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming would like to maintain between 900-1,250 gray wolves. Wildlife agencies in those three states began writing rules for wolf hunts, which would have been similar to those for other big game species. 

In his recent decision, Judge Malloy stated that the Federal Government has not met its standard for wolf recovery, including ensuring healthy genetics by showing that wolves in the three states were interbreeding. In his 40-page decision, Malloy wrote  “genetic exchange has not taken place.” From his ruling, it appears that the judge concluded that the Fish & Wildlife Services (FWS) reversed several of it’s own prior conclusion in order to justify removing the wolf from it’s protected status. The FWS rejected a scientific report that they had commissioned, and overturned, without explanation, it’s own original set of de-listing criteria. According to the judge, while the Service is allowed to change it’s criteria, they must provide a “reasoned analysis” for doing so.

This injunction is a temporary order, only protecting wolves until the lawsuit is resolved. Without this injunction, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming would have been able to go ahead with plans for wolf hunts this fall.

Ed Bangs, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist, who lead the wolf restoration project defended the decision to de-list the northern Rocky wolves and said that government attorneys were reviewing Judge Malloy’s decision to determine whether to file to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
For now the gray wolf is protected.

Whales & Friends will update you with new developments in the case.

For more articles on this subject check out the following sites:

ScienceBlogs.com

Suite101.com

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