Woman Encounters Mexican Wolves
	From the 2000

Wednesday, May 17, 2000


By Tania Soussan
Journal Staff Writer
    Renée Despres had no idea what was waiting a half mile from her door when she set out on her morning run Tuesday.
    She was jogging with two Labrador retrievers in the tiny community of Gila Hot Springs on the northern edge of Grant County when she and the dogs came face-to-face with two Mexican gray wolves.
    Despres later described Tuesday's encounter with the controversial endangered species as a "nonincident," but that didn't stop the rumor mill.
    Within hours, people up and down New Mexico were talking about the woman who was attacked by wolves.
    The real story was less dramatic, Despres said.
    Despres and the dogs — one of her own and one she's watching for a friend — spotted the wolves outside Doc Campbell's Post, a small general store along N.M. 15. There was not much doubt they were wolves rather than coyotes; they were wearing radio-collars biologists use to keep track of them.
    The dogs, Lexie and Libby, ran toward the wolves and then came back. The larger wolf followed.
    "It didn't even see me. It was much more interested in the dogs," Despres said.
    "When it got 10 to 15 feet away, I decided it was time to start chucking some rocks at it," she said. "I didn't want to hurt them. But, then again, I was not too fond of the idea that there was a wolf coming toward me."
    When the rocks started flying and the dogs gave chase, the wolf turned skittish and ran away, Despres said.
    "It was a little dicey for a moment, got my adrenaline going, I admit," she said. "They didn't seem at all impressed that I was a two-legged."
    Two National Park Service employees drove by the general store at the same time Despres encountered the wolves and radioed the sighting to other officials.
    Despres, a 36-year-old freelance writer, took the dogs home. She saw the wolves again near her house, where she left the dogs, but then went back out to finish her run.
    The endangered Mexican gray wolves are part of a federal reintroduction program that aims to re-establish a species that was hunted nearly to extinction. Tuesday was not the first time they have encountered humans.
    In April, an Arizona rancher on horseback with six dogs encountered a pack of three wolves. A female wolf skirmished briefly with the dogs but left the man alone. That wolf was recaptured.
    Two years earlier, a camper in Arizona shot and killed a wolf after it attacked his dog and approached to within 50 feet of his family.
    Wolves were first released in the Gila Wilderness of southwestern New Mexico last month. Before that, some wolves released in Arizona had wandered over the state line.
    Tom Bauer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman, said the wolves that ran into Despres probably are an adult pair from the Pipestem pack.
    That pack of five wolves was released April 15 from pens in the Half Moon area of the Gila, about 15 or 20 miles from Gila Hot Springs, he said.
    Wolves are attracted by dogs, Bauer said, adding, "I would just caution people to be a little more wary when they're in wolf territory with dogs."
    Despres said she is supportive of the wolf-reintroduction program but is concerned about having the wolves so close to people and pets.
    "Nobody said it would be easy to reintroduce wolves to the Gila," she said. "We just need to see how it would be best for the wolves and for the people who live around here."
    Others took a harsher stance Tuesday. In some cases, the tale also took on more drama.
    Ysabel Luecke, who owns the general store about four miles south of the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, said she wants federal officials to move the wolves away.
    "We don't like 'em," she said. "We want them out of here as fast as they can get them out."
    Luecke, a member of the Campbell ranching family, said there are sheep, horses, mules and other livestock in the area.
    She said she's not worried for herself because she always carries a gun, but fears children in the community could be attacked.
    Hours after the incident Tuesday morning, the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau issued a statement decrying the "life-threatening attack" on Despres and vowing to do all it can to put the "ill-advised wolf program out of business."
    "I can assure you no human is a match for a starving pack of wolves in a feeding frenzy," executive vice president Norm Plank said in a statement.
    But the bureau made some corrections to its statement after hearing from Despres that no attack took place.
    The Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to locate the wolves Despres saw and will monitor them closely, Bauer said.
    "There are no plans right now to recapture these wolves because they weren't displaying any threatening behavior," he said.
    Despres said she did not feel threatened and thought the wolf that trailed the dogs was just curious.

---

Gray Wolves Sighted Near Gila Hot Springs

Residents of the Gila Hot Springs area this morning reported that their dogs encountered Mexican gray wolves.

Renee Dupree said she was walking two Labradors about 8 a.m. along New Mexico 15 (between the recreational vehicle park and Doc Campbell's store), when two radiocollared wolves got into a scuffle with the dogs.

Dupree threw rocks to fend off the wolves until two Forest Service employees arrived to help her drive the animals off the dogs.

According to Becky Campbell of the Gila Hot Springs Ranch, Dupree was not injured but was "extremely shaken." Information about the dogs' condition was not available this morning.

About 10:30 a.m., according to Campbell, a resident on the east side of the Gila River's West Fork fired a shot into the air to scare away a wolf that was in his yard. The man's small dog also was in the yard, barking at the wolf, she said.

State Department of Game and Fish officials Saturday told residents the wolves had been spotted on a wildlife preserve about onehalf mile up the West Fork from the ranch.

That night, "the dogs just barked and barked," Campbell said. "The wolves came through at night; we saw the tracks."

She that when she reported the sightings to Wolf Recovery Team members with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she was told the wolves were on the wildlife preserve.

"How can I watch my critters when (officials) tell me one thing and it's not so?" Campbell asked. "I need to get my sheep out into the pasture."

She added: "Everybody here has pets and they don't want to lose them. Some of us have livestock, and we don't want to lose them, either."

Recovery team members were not available at press time for comment.

---

Woman Recounts Encounter With Wolves
By JIM OWEN
Daily Press Staff

A Gila Hot Springs woman who encountered wolves Tuesday morning says she does not believe they were attacking her.

"It was a little scary, but there was no actual contact between me or my dogs and the wolves," said Renée Despres. "I never felt the wolves even cared that I was there."

"They were not attacking me or the dogs; they were just checking out the dogs the way all dogs investigate each other. I didn't feel any aggression."

Despres was taking her morning run with her dog and one she is keeping for someone else, when — about 100 to 150 feet from Doc Campbell's store — she saw two of the radio-collared Mexican gray wolves recently released in the Gila Wilderness.

"One of the dogs started running toward the wolves," she said. "I called her back, and grabbed the other dog by the collar. The wolf started to run toward us and was about 15 yards away. I let go of the dogs and started throwing rocks. As soon as I did that, the wolves took off."

Despres added that though she was "pretty shaken up at first," she has been "as scared by other people's dogs coming at me while I'm running."

About one-half hour later, when she returned to her house near the river below the store, the wolves "were hanging out about 100 yards from my home," Despres reported.

About 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, a resident on the east side of the Gila River's West Fork also reportedly saw wolves in his yard after hearing his dog barking at them.

The animals "have been seen in the valley since then," Despres said. "We're keeping tabs on our ani-mals. People are upset. It's a pain in the butt, wondering whether it's OK to run with my dogs."

Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were in the West Fork area today, monitoring the wolves' movements, according to Despres.

Members of the Wolf Recovery Team were not available this morning for comment.

Despres said there is a "mixed bag of opinion" among her neighbors concerning the wolf reintroduction program.

"I believe the idea of reintroducing wolves in the Gila is a real neat one," she explained. "On the other hand, there is a lot of concern whether it's being done in a way that's best for everyone. ... This is a pretty populated area."

Despres continued: "We've got mountain lions and black bears out here, and javelina that could tear my dogs apart. But they're not (acclimated) to humans like these wolves."

She said although many people have an "instinctual fear" of wolves, "encountering them, for me, was very good. ... They weren't the archetypal wolves of legend; they were just wolves."

The animals apparently are members of the Pipestem Pack, a five-member family translocated April 4 to the wilder-ness.

The pack, which previously was released in Arizona, reportedly killed a bull and a pregnant cow on Bud Collins' ranch northwest of Glenwood. The wolves were recaptured after that incident.

Comment on this topic here

webmaster?subject=ABQ%20Mayor%20Article">