TV Crew Recording Response To Wolf Release
	Compliments of February 2000

By JANIS MARSTON

For The Daily Press

GLENWOOD -- While biologists try to trap the last two pups in the Gavilan wolf pack, a "60 Minutes" television crew is here, recording residents' opinions about rereleasing the pack into the Gila Wilderness.

Traps were set Jan. 12 on Smoothing Iron Mesa. After almost two weeks of going empty-handed in their trapping efforts, biologists captured the adult female and three of the five pups. They have been moved to Ted Turner's Ladder Ranch near Truth or Consequences.

The alpha male, trapped the last week of January, remains in a cage near a local rancher's line camp, where two cattle were killed by the wolves. Biologists hope to draw the remaining two pups, both 8 months old, to the caged male.

"They're taking care of him like a little baby," said ranch manager Craig Shellhorn of the biologists' care of the alpha male. Two Fish and Wildlife biologists feed the wolf, change its straw bedding, and give it shots and vitamins on a regular daily basis. "They're taking excellent care of him," Shellhorn said. The wolf is being fed 5-pound "canine logs" that he said look like "a big roll of sausage." They are regularly used to feed zoo animals.

He said the wolf is in a 6-foot-by-6-foot "culvert trap" -- a weatherized, tubular steel trap on wheels. Its location is a well-kept secret, Shellhorn said. "They don't want anyone bothering him."

Shellhorn also reported that there have been no more cattle killed by the wolves since a 1,500-pound bull carcass was found early last month. "I feel pretty good about that," he said.

Because the alpha male has been connected to five cattle deaths, it will not be allowed to leave the Ladder Ranch. It will remain in captivity, to be used for breeding.

But the radio-collared 2-year-old male, recently seen in the Snow Lake area, will be allowed to remain in the wild, according to a recovery team spokesman. Biologists believe it has been moving away from the pack since November, traveling up to 20 miles at a time.

"This is normal behavior for a young wild wolf," said recovery team coordinator Wendy Brown. "Long-range dispersal movements is how young wolves learn the country, locate prey and potential mates, and, if they are lucky, eventually set up a territory for themselves," she said in a press release.

Trackers had lost signals from the young wolf for about a month and were worried that its radio collar wasn't working, but it is working fine and biologists have seen the wolf around Snow Lake. This confirms that this wolf was not involved in the two cattle kills on Smoothing Iron Mesa, Brown stated.

While that wolf roams free, a television producer and crew from "60 Minutes" are roaming around Glenwood in search of a story.

Realtor Darrel Allred, who maintains a wolf-information Web site on the Internet, said today he has spent about eight hours talking with the three-person New York TV crew. He said they contacted him because of the Web site.

In addition, Allred and others who say there's not enough deer and elk in the wilderness to support wolves will have a rally at Glenwood's park Feb. 26. "We want to provide alternative information to wolf reintroduction as it affects this community," Allred said.

For example, he said, the area's deer population has seen a drastic reduction in numbers. U.S. Fish and Wildlife statistics indicate there were 20,000 mule deer here in 1992. That number is now 7,000, Allred said.

"There's no game for them. They (the wolves) are going to be here in town," Allred said, remarking how he questions the science behind the wolf recovery program.

The anti-wolf-reintroduction rally is scheduled to last from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. A free barbecue will follow. Invitations have been mailed to government agencies and officials, including the governor and U.S. Rep. Joe Skeen, as well as hunters, ranchers, outfitters and, as Allred described, "other users of the forest."

Public meetings on the rereleasing of members of the Gavilan and Pipestem packs into the Gila Wilderness are scheduled March 1 from 7-9 p.m. at Reserve's Community Center, and March 2, from 7-9 p.m. at Light Hall at Western New Mexico University.

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