Catron County Reports First Wolf Kill In New Mexico
	Compliments of December 28, 1999

GLENWOOD -- Authorities say a pack of Mexican gray wolves claimed their first documented casualty in New Mexico when they attacked and killed a cow in the Gila National Forest before being frightened away by hunters.

Catron County Undersheriff Shawn Menges said one of his deputies and a U.S. Forest Service employee witnessed the wolves attacking the cow while hunting Sunday.

''They told me two of the wolves were collared and four didn't have collars,'' Menges said. ''They were seen next to the cow.''

Menges said he went to the scene after being notified by the hunters and inspected the carcass, which he said appeared to have been eaten.

Wendy Brown, wolf biologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, on Monday confirmed the death as a Mexican gray wolf kill. She said the determination was made by a team of wildlife specialists that went to the scene.

The pregnant cow belonged to rancher Bud Collins. He said as the cow ran from a pasture to a line camp the wolves must have been ''chewing on her all the way. ... It was pretty grisly.''

New Mexico Cattle Growers Association executive secretary Caren Cowan said this is the first documented wolf kill in New Mexico.

''This is what we knew would happen and this will just be the first of many,'' she said. ''This proves our fears are becoming reality. This was inevitable, it was a matter of time before it happened.''

The association has tried to block the reintroduction of wolves in the Southwest through the courts, filing a lawsuit that claimed the wolves would kill more cattle than wildlife officers had predicted.

A federal judge in October dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that it's impossible to predict how many cows would be killed by wolves. Cowan said the association would appeal the ruling.

The Mexican gray wolf has been reintroduced into the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona, and Fish and Wildlife officials have proposed releasing the animals into the Gila.

The wolves are in the second year of the federal program intended to restore them to the wilderness. About 20 remain in the wild near the Arizona-New Mexico border.

The program has been troubled by human-caused deaths and conflicts with livestock. At least three cow deaths in Arizona have been blamed on the wolves.

''They are putting these wolves in here that are known cow-killers,'' said Hugh McKeen, a neighbor of Collins and a fellow rancher. ''They are going to do nothing but feed on baby calves. They have no prey base (in the Gila), so they can only attack livestock.''

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