SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- For the last 10 years, New Mexico has been home to the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program.  This program, which purports to restore Mexican Wolves to the communities surrounding the Blue Range Recovery Area, has not only failed, but it has become a detriment to the surrounding communities.  I believe, the time has come to stop squandering taxpayer dollars on this wasted effort.  

Recently, I offered an amendment that would remove funding for the program entirely.  Given the overwhelming evidence, I have concluded that we cannot successfully reintroduce wolves in New Mexico.



Beginning in 1998 captive bred habituated Mexican grey wolves were released into areas of Catron and Grant counties. In almost a decade, 58 wolves have been reintroduced at a cost of $14 million ? over $241,000 per wolf. Of those, we are currently on pace to remove 12 in 2007 for being ?problem wolves.? That means for every five wolves released into the wild, the Fish and Wildlife Service will have to spend additional resources removing one for multiple attacks on pets and livestock and threatening people.  

This is not the kind of track record that deserves further investment.  More importantly, the problem has expanded beyond the control of the Fish and Wildlife Service. I continue to receive complaints from constituents who have witnessed wolves just yards from their front door. I have pictures of horses eaten to the bone by a pack of wolves in corrals. I have received a letter from a father who insists that his 13-year-old daughter carry a pistol while doingher chores.  

As long as the Fish and Wildlife Service cannot keep the wolves in the wilderness areas the wolves represent a danger to farmers and ranchers, their families, and pets and livestock.  We should not be funding a program that presents a significant threat to people?s lives and livelihoods.  

Unfortunately, there are those in Congress and elsewhere around the country who blindly support this failed program.  They say wolves are not a danger to humans despite recorded wolf attacks on people that go back decades.  At one point, I even suggested that if they find this program so important they are welcome to have the wolves released in their states.  As you might expect, there were no takers.  

Supporters of the recovery program have a misguided romantic idea that these wolves behave like the cuddly creatures we might see in a movie.  But the reality is far different for the people who actually live, work, and raise their families in New Mexico.  

It is far different for those in the Second District who pass by the signs warning residents of dangerous wolves in the area.  It is far different for the ranchers who receive no government compensation when their livestock is slaughtered.

New Mexico ranchers tried this program for nearly ten years.  We have made every effort to make this program work, but unfortunately the wolves simply won?t cooperate.  Captive bred habituated wolves are not serving their natural role in the ecosystem and are instead assaulting livestock and stalking ranch homes.

The amendment I presented in Congress ultimately failed, but the good news is that it received strong support, which I believe is a result of the truth finally being told about this wasteful and ineffective program.  

Unfortunately, taxpayer money will be misused again this year.  Meanwhile, I will continue to fight to protect the lives and livelihoods of New Mexicans and put pressure on those that, to this point, have only wasted tax dollars and created a menace within our communities.