Wandering Wolves To Be Returned To Gila Area
	From the April 2000

Journal Staff and Wire Reports
    SILVER CITY — Three Mexican Gray wolves that wandered onto a private ranch in southwest New Mexico will be returned to the Gila Wilderness.
    The endangered wolves include the alpha male and two yearlings from the Mule Pack. The pack was released earlier this month in the Gila Wilderness, the first wolves to be released in New Mexico.
    The fourth wolf in the pack, a pregnant female expected to have pups any day, dug a den near the release pen and remains there, said Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Tom Bauer in Albuquerque.
    Normally, the wolves would stay together and hunt for the female and her pups, Bauer said.
    "In this case it didn't happen, and nobody knows why," he said.
    If the pack doesn't return, the Fish and Wildlife Service will put out food for the mother, Bauer said.
    The three males crossed onto the Double E Ranch along Bear Creek last week, and the Fish and Wildlife Service informed ranch officials Thursday the wolves had been tracked to their property.
    Bauer said the wolves apparently were still on the ranch Monday morning, but had managed to evade traps set out over the weekend.
    "They seem to be moving again," Bauer said. "We're going to observe them from the ground and the air ... and see if we can predict their movement."
    The arrival of the three wolves at the Double E created concern among ranch employees because it coincided with the calving season. There are about 250 cows on the ranch, along with several species of wildlife.
    Debbie Eggleston, who lives on the Double E, said deer and other wildlife at the ranch "have gone almost hysterical."
    "The dogs are barking all the time," Eggleston said.
    She said ranch hands were sent out to check on the cattle, "but other than that, we can't do anything."
    Bauer said the wolves had not attacked any cows on the ranch.
    On Sunday, "they were spotted moving through pastures with cattle, and they paid no attention to the cattle at all," he said.
    The Mule Pack wolves initially were released in Arizona's Blue Range last year. The pack was recaptured after some of the wolves killed cattle.
    Although some wolves have wandered from Arizona into New Mexico, the Mule Pack was the first to be released in New Mexico.
    A second pack of five wolves remains in acclimation pens in the Half Moon area of the Gila.
    The federal reintroduction program is intended to re-establish wild packs of the endangered animals, which were hunted to the brink of extinction.
    The Fish and Wildlife Service chose the Gila because it has extensive roadless areas free of human habitation or active cattle grazing allotments.

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