Habituated Wolves are Dangerious Wolves
Small rural county continues to stand up to the goverment that has dumped habituated wolves on residents. I am proud of the Catron County Commission and of the people of Catrion County never has a county been so effected by wolves only to have additional cage rased wolves released on them.
Looks like US Fish and Wildlife Service consider wolves hanging around our homes, camps, stalking children, and denning on or near our private property as acceptable. The are warning signs for future wolf attacks on people.
Read more about habituated wolves and the warning signs for wolves becoming man eaters.
Stalking the Habituated Wolf - Part 1: What is Habituated Wolf Behavior?
CATRON COUNTY COMMISSION
PO BOX 507
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chairman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ed Wehrheim, Catron County Chairman
Phone 505.533.6423
Email: ccmanager@gilanet.com
HABITUATED WOLVES ARE DANGEROUS WOLVES
Catron County Presses FWS on Habituated Wolves
RESERVE, N.M. A recent inquest determined that Kenton Carnegie had been killed by wolves two years ago in Ontario, Canada. On October 11 of this year, the Catron County Commission sent a letter to Dr. Benjamin Tuggle of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service notifying him of the County’s findings of imminent danger and a demand for permanent removal of a male Mexican wolf from the Durango pack. The wolf had, at that time, been documented as frequenting two homes, one twenty-one times and another seven times over the course of a few months.
In its letter to Dr. Tuggle, the County cited the “10J Rule”, a part of the Endangered Species Act which applies to the experimental, non-essential Mexican wolf population. This rule provides guidance for management of the Mexican wolf program and definitions of what constitutes a problem wolf. The County pointed out that the wolf in question met four of the five possible identifiers (only one is required for a wolf to be so identified). According to the 10J Rule, a problem wolf can be removed from the wild by the wolf program before it performs some action which may require, by the same Rule, that the wolf be destroyed.
However, in his October 27 letter of reply, Dr. Tuggle chose to disagree with the County’s findings, stating that the wolf’s actions did not constitute problem behavior, and further stated that the behaviors exhibited by the wolf would be best dealt with via “aversive conditioning methods”, stating that the measures had been proven to be successful.
During the ten days that these methods were employed by authorities, the wolf returned to one of the homes five times.
“Dr. Tuggle seems to think the wolf’s being documented at homes 28 times is normal wolf behavior,” said Catron County’s Wolf Interaction Investigator, Jess Carey. “He thinks it is acceptable for a family to have to live with people on their property on a daily basis, hazing the wolves away to protect the family.”
According to a recent report by Dr. Valerius Geist, a Canadian biologist, becoming used to and not afraid of humans is one of the final steps before a wolf starts seeing humans as prey. Dr. Geist consulted wolf experts from around the world and identified seven stages of wolf habituation leading to attacks on humans.
“It appears that Dr. Tuggle is content that wolves in Catron County are displaying the exact behavior displayed by wolves that killed and ate Kenton Carnegie,” said Ed Wehrheim, Chairman of the Catron County Commission. “We have a serious problem of escalating habituated behavior here. We told Dr. Tuggle very clearly of the evidence we have that the wolf is habituated and therefore a problem wolf. We invited him to come down here and examine our evidence. Our documentation includes three videos that were taken of wolves in people’s yards, taken from their living room window. A habituated wolf is a dangerous wolf and we need to get these habituated wolves out of the our county so they are no longer threatening our people.”
In a reply letter to Dr. Tuggle from the County, Wehrheim stated “the County has taken no action in order to give you time to do your job. However, we can wait no longer.”
Commissioner Wehrheim stated that the County will take measures to protect its citizens, acting under the Catron County Wolf Protection Ordinance.
“It is the moral and legal responsibility of the Catron County Commission, first and foremost, to protect the safety, health and welfare of the residents of Catron County,” the letter concludes.
November 13th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
[…] Habituated Wolves are Dangerious Wolves […]
December 19th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Twice I have been hunting in the Gila and had wolves to come with in twenty yards or less from me,each time they were hunting with nose to the ground coming from a different direction than I came from.
Upon on seeing me they turned and ran at a very fast pase with ou looking back.
I feel very lucky to be this close to them and at no time had any reason to fear the, what a beautiful animal.
Ranchers leave them ALONE!
December 20th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
It is not just ranchers. I want the wolves to leave me and my property alone.
These wolves are following kids home from school and attacking near kids. Oh and the wolf at glenwood school. Hunters have also had the wolves in their camps, following their pack strings, threatening their stock, and a boy out hunting was encircled by members of the luna pack last year for more than 10 minutes.
So I think you were just lucky that your interaction was with shy wolves not habituated wolves we have here.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
We may not be the usual prey of wolves, but we’re not the usual prey of any predator. Wolves can be docile, wolves can be deadly. They can be amiable, they can be aggressive. They can be shy, they can be savage. They aren’t paper tigers.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
They used to make “they don’t attack people” statements regarding alligators & cougars.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Cletus…so true about their old statements. I would like to see some of those historical documents or articles to help publize what is going on. Then when they start killing people they will just comment well they are wild animals and that is what wild animals do. It is the animals right to kill people and why do you live there.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
That is exactly what they do. Dogma leads on these issues. Just lie, then when the facts come out in the end after it is too late, then blame the victim and say “what were you thinking living or camping out there to begin with”.
It is about rural cleansing not wildlife recovery.