No Gavilan Wolves Trapped Yet
	Compliments of January 2000

By JANIS MARSTON

For The Daily Press

GLENWOOD -- The Mexican gray wolves that have preyed on cattle in New Mexico and Arizona have eluded the first two days of attempts to trap them.

Local rancher Bud Collins, who runs cattle on the Citizens Allotment where the Gavilan wolf pack has killed two of his herd, said no wolves had been trapped by Thursday evening.

Biologists working with the federal wolf reintroduction program set out traps Wednesday afternoon in Collins' pasture on Smoothing Iron Mesa after it was determined wolves had killed a full-grown bull. The carcass of a 1,500-pound bull was found Tuesday. The bull had been dead for several days.

Part of another bull's tail was found a half-mile from the carcass. Collins said five riders searched for the bull with the missing tail Thursday but could not find it. He estimated the pasture's size at 2,000 acres.

Once the wolves are trapped, they will be returned to captivity. Wendy Brown, acting leader of the Wolf Recovery Program, said today they will be taken to the Ladder Ranch, southwest of Truth or Consequences. The alpha male will never be returned to the wild, she said, explaining that it usually leads the hunts.

The Gavilan Pack killed one of Collins' pregnant cows last month and Brown said the alpha male's paw print was seen close to that kill. The pack also was linked to three cattle kills in Arizona.

Since the wolves moved to the Maple Peak area last fall, wolf management team members have been feeding them roadkill elk and deer. Biologists with the reintroduction program say there are enough elk along the New Mexico-Arizona border to support the pack, but many locals disagree.

Kendall Brown of Silver City has been tracking the pack since mid-December. He said the wolves haven't killed anything but cattle on their own and that he has not seen an elk since tracking the pack.

Wednesday morning, hours before the traps were set, he said radio signals indicated the wolves were in a canyon about a mile east of where the bull was killed. That would put them "about three miles -- as the crow flies -- from downtown Glenwood," said Realtor Darrel Allred.

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