Rep. Gosar wants Mexican gray wolf off endangered list

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., co-sponsored a bill this week that would take the Mexican wolf off the endangered species list.

Gosar and Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., introduced the bill Thursday. It would overrule Mexican wolf regulations that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set in January.

The new regulations expand the areas in New Mexico and Arizona that the wolf can roam, increase the population goal to 300-325 wolves and keep the Mexican gray wolf on the endangered species list.

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Gosar's bill, called the Mexican Wolf Transparency and Accountability Act, would block parts of the Fish and Wildlife Service's management program from going into effect. Wolf advocates say that the bill could lead to the extinction of the species.

"The new regulations that were implemented without an appropriation or authorization from Congress, in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, defy common sense as nearly 90 percent of the wolf's original habitat falls within the border of Mexico," Gosar said in a statement.

"Our bipartisan bill will protect local communities, delist the Mexican wolf and terminate this flawed experimental program."

Pearce said the Fish and Wildlife's recovery program ignores public-safety concerns and threatens the lives of New Mexico's farmers and ranchers. He said regulation of the Mexican wolves should be handled by the states.

"Wolves are natural predators and are devastating livestock populations and putting family pets in danger," Pearce said.

Michael Robinson, conservation advocate for Mexican gray wolves with New Mexico's Center for Biological Diversity, said "the Mexican wolf would be doomed" if Gosar's bill passes. "It would reverse back to the previous listing status and further delay Mexican wolf recovery," he added.

The original Mexican wolf recovery plan created in 1982 allowed the Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain a captive breeding program and re-establish the population with 100 Mexican wolves released into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in Arizona and New Mexico in 1998.

Now, 109 Mexican wolves exist in Arizona, according to the bill.

In January, the Fish and Wildlife Service changed how it manages the Mexican wolf population by expanding the area south of Interstate 40 in Arizona and New Mexico in order to release the additional 250 Mexican wolves still in captivity.

The new regulations also list the Mexican wolf as a sub species of the gray wolf population, which would help maintain its endangered status.

The bill would prevent these regulations from going into effect.

"The bottom line is that scientists recommended early on that it was important to revise the Mexican wolf's management to allow its release in the wild for for genetic reasons," Robinson said. "They are beautiful, intelligent animals on the brink of extinction that help ensure the balance of the ecosystem, and their extinction would be a horrible tragedy."

Sandy Bahr, the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon chapter director, said she feels the legislation is a "recipe for extinction."

"Time after time and poll after poll and meeting after meeting ... the people support recovering endangered wolves," she said. "I think what this demonstrates is how far out of step Congress and Gosar and others are with people of Arizona."

Steven D. Smith, Gosar's press secretary, said Gosar was not available to comment further on the bill.

The bill also states that the Mexican wolf recovery plan that Fish and Wildlife created in the 1980s is out of date and that the service failed to secure funding for the plan's expansion when it changed its rules in January, despite officials asking for an updated plan.

Earlier this month, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Attorney General's Office filed a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging it has failed to update its Mexican wolf recovery plan and establish criteria for the removal of the species from the list of endangered animals.

The state asked Sally Jewell, secretary of the United States Interior Department, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for a modern plan that would improve Arizona's involvement in recovery efforts.