Wolf Returned To Captivity After Run-In With Man And Dogs
	From the April 2000

By Lisa Parker
Sun-News

The alpha female of the Campbell Blue Pack of Mexican gray wolves was captured Sunday -- never to return to the wild -- as the result of an April 14 conflict with an Arizona man and his six dogs.

According to a report from the Eastern Arizona Courier, Dean Warren was riding horseback about 22 miles north of Clifton, Ariz., when he and his dogs came across the wolves -- an adult pair and two yearling females.

The wolves began "interacting" with the dogs, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Vicki Fox, rolling the dogs and giving one a puncture wound in its stomach and a bite on the back of its neck.

The alpha female also "basically charged the horse, bumped it with her shoulders -- I guess she put her front feet on it," Fox said Tuesday.

The alpha male, however, "was not aggressive, so to speak," she said. "He did not physically make contact with the gentleman's horse or the rider." Fox added that neither the horse nor Warren were injured.

Warren, who is a Lieutenant of the Greenlee County Sheriff's Office and a rancher, was able to call for help with his radio. He had been riding into a remote area near Eagle Creek called Sawmill Cabin, and was, according to the newspaper report, about 25 yards from the cabin and corrals when he encountered the wolves.

Warren was able to scare the two younger wolves away, but the adult pair would not leave, according to Fox. He used a radio to call for help and field personnel of the Arizona wolf recovery team immediately responded, but had to hike into the area, according to the newspaper account and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports.

Warren was able to make it to the structures, and the wolves reportedly left the scene about 20 minutes later. The two field team members accompanied Warren out of the area once they arrived.

Fox said Tuesday that the wolves were probably protecting their territory from the dogs. The area of Apache National Forest is a few miles from where the alpha female and yearlings were released in March.

"Of course dogs and wolves do not mix -- especially in the wolves' territory," she said, adding that the Service does "warn people they are in wolf territory when they have their dogs."

The three were brought from the Sevilleta refuge to augment the Campbell Blue Pack, which at the time only included the alpha male. The male has been through four mates, Fox said, but other than this incident "kept his nose clean."

He is ranging free and there are no plans to trap him, she said. The two yearling females were trapped over the weekend and are in an acclimation pen in the Apache National Forest. Current plans, Fox said, are to re-release the two with the male. She said hopefully one of the two will pair up with the alpha male next year.

In a news release, the Service characterized the alpha female's behavior as "undesirable" and stated she will not be a candidate for future release into the wild.

Comment on this topic here

webmaster?subject=Wolf%20Returned%20To%20Captivity%20After%20Run-In%20Article">