蜜柚直播

All that was left was a wadded scrap of dried hide that investigators photographed then collected from the rocky ground at the base of a pinyon pine tree.

They had to soak the skin for weeks before it was soft enough for them to find tooth marks on it.

The size of the bite and the location of the hide was all the confirmation they needed. As far as the federal government was concerned, this 4-year-old cow was killed by a Mexican gray wolf.

Advocates for the endangered predator aren鈥檛 convinced.

An ongoing analysis by the environmental group Western Watersheds Project is raising questions about these livestock depredation investigations, which are being used to compensate ranchers and target 鈥減roblem鈥� wolves in 蜜柚直播 and New Mexico.

The group documented significant oddities, errors or conflicting details in more than two-thirds of the 117 investigations it reviewed from 2019.

Greta Anderson, 蜜柚直播-based deputy director of the group, said she found numerous 鈥渃onfirmed鈥� cases of wolves preying on cattle based on 鈥渃lear logical leaps鈥� and a stunning lack of evidence.

She said wolves may be paying for such inaccuracies with their lives.

In March alone, government hunters killed four wolves in New Mexico under federal 鈥渞emoval orders鈥� that cited repeated attacks on livestock in the area.

鈥淲e want to make sure if wolves are being blamed that it鈥檚 true,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淲e have a lot of questions. We don鈥檛 have a bunch of conclusions.鈥�

Back from the brink but still endangered

The Mexican gray wolf was once common throughout portions of the southwestern United States and Mexico, but by the 1970s it had been hunted, trapped and poisoned to near-extinction.

In 1998, state and federal wildlife managers began reintroducing the subspecies to the wild with the experimental release of 11 captive-bred wolves in Eastern 蜜柚直播 and Western New Mexico.

There are now at least 163 of the endangered animals roaming the two states, according to the latest population count completed in January. That鈥檚 an increase of 24% over the previous year.

But the wolf鈥檚 future remains very much in doubt. Despite recent gains, the population still faces a 鈥済enetic crisis鈥� caused by its low numbers and inbreeding.

鈥淭his is one of the most imperiled species in the country,鈥� said Cyndi Tuell, 蜜柚直播 and New Mexico director for Western Watersheds Project. 鈥淓very time they take a wolf out of the wild and kill it, they reduce those genetics even more.鈥�

The Mexican wolf recovery program is a cooperative effort by nine federal, state and tribal agencies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leads the interagency team.

The Wildlife Services branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture investigates livestock deaths and removes wolves when necessary.

Wildlife Services declined a request to interview its director in New Mexico, Robert Gosnell.

In an email response to questions, agency spokeswoman Tanya Espinosa said Wildlife Services tries to conduct its investigation within 24 hours of being notified of a livestock loss.

In addition to identifying 鈥渢he wildlife species responsible for specific damage,鈥� agency employees 鈥減rovide advice, recommendations, information, or materials for use in managing problems associated with wildlife damage,鈥� Espinosa said.

Wildlife Services received funding this year to hire 鈥渘onlethal conflict prevention specialists,鈥� she said, and 鈥減art of that work will be focused on areas with Mexican gray wolf conflicts.鈥�

Attacks on cattle lead to 鈥渞emovals鈥�

Brady McGee is Mexican wolf recovery coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service, a job he鈥檚 held since October 2018. When a decision is made to catch or kill a wolf, he is the one who signs the order.

鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檚 my decision,鈥� McGee said. 鈥淲olf removal is a last resort.鈥�

He said a number of factors go into it, including the animal鈥檚 genetic contribution to the population at large. But he conceded that the 鈥渂asis of the removal orders are livestock depredations.鈥�

Some wolves are killed. Others are captured alive 鈥� usually in leg traps or with tranquilizer darts fired from a helicopter 鈥� so they can be kept in captivity or moved to other parts of the massive experimental release area.

Relocating wolves can be a juggling act, since so much of the release area is open to grazing during at least some part of the year.

鈥淚n New Mexico, livestock are grazing on the Gila National Forest year-round,鈥� smack in the middle of some of the best Mexican gray wolf habitat there is, McGee said.

鈥淣ew Mexico is the only state in the country where there are wolves overlapping with livestock year-round,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e try to find a balance and alleviate the impact on the livestock industry as much as possible.鈥�

According to McGee, there were 100 cases of wolves killing livestock along the 蜜柚直播-New Mexico border in 2018. Last year, that number jumped to 193, including 124 in New Mexico.

鈥淩ight now we鈥檙e on an equivalent pace,鈥� he said. 鈥淢arch and April have been a hard time.鈥�

March especially saw a 鈥渟pike in depredations,鈥� mostly in New Mexico, McGee said.

Much of the recent damage has been blamed on the 鈥減rieto pack,鈥� a group that once included one alpha male, one alpha female and four or five juvenile 鈥渉elpers.鈥�

After a string of livestock attacks last year, McGee ordered the removal of several of the helpers. When the problem persisted, he sanctioned the killing of the alpha male and one additional helper.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been working this pack for a couple of years,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he ranch in that area is experiencing a lot of hardship.鈥�

A search for patterns turns up holes

Western Watersheds鈥� position on such removals is clear.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 believe wolves should be killed for being wolves. We don鈥檛 believe any predator should be killed for preying on prey in their public-lands habitat,鈥� Anderson said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really the livestock operators that are the problem for wolves, not the other way around.鈥�

So far, the Idaho-based environmental group has received almost 2,600 pages of federal investigation reports through a Freedom of Information Act request filed last year.

Tuell said they didn鈥檛 set out to poke holes in the investigations. The original purpose of their public records request was to analyze livestock losses in search of patterns, problem areas and possible solutions to prevent future conflicts.

鈥淲e were intent on figuring out how this was happening,鈥� she said.

They also hoped to use location data for specific packs to independently evaluate the management decisions being made by the wolf鈥檚 federal caretakers.

But the records contained too many unknowns for such detailed analysis, Tuell said. Citing privacy and other concerns, the government redacted key details in the documents, including the names of the individual investigators and the ranchers involved.

Officials also blacked out the exact locations where the dead animals were found and other details that could be used to identify specific livestock operations.

Despite the redactions, Tuell and Anderson managed to identify some patterns in the documents. The same key phrases showed up over and over, suggesting the work of a single person or the use of a shared template.

In a handful of reports, the investigating officer described finding 鈥渁n extensive fight scene鈥� and noted that other cows in the area seemed 鈥渘ervous.鈥�

鈥淚 have questions about a lot of these,鈥� Anderson said.

Advocates question inconsistencies

In one case, a single bone from a calf and the dried husk of cow that had been dead for as much as a year were chalked up as two confirmed wolf kills. In another, wolves were blamed even though the week-old carcass was too badly decomposed to find bite marks.

Anderson said the records contain a host of similar livestock deaths that were all ruled as 鈥渃onfirmed鈥� based almost entirely on telemetry data showing collared wolves in the general vicinity.

Advocates also spotted regional disparities in the records.

Anderson said wolves are 鈥減retty evenly distributed鈥� in 蜜柚直播 and New Mexico. So why are there so many more confirmed cases of wolves killing livestock in New Mexico, particularly in Catron County, a hotbed of opposition to wolf recovery efforts?

One possible explanation is that local politics is influencing investigations. Anderson said blaming wolves for every livestock loss is a way to sabotage the overall recovery effort by convincing policy makers that the program is hurting rural residents.

To that end, Anderson and Tuell flagged investigations conducted by local authorities during the federal government shutdown in January 2019.

Anderson said there seemed to be a surge in livestock attacks at that time, and a lot of those confirmed wolf kills occurred in Catron County.

Though those reports reportedly underwent 鈥減eer review鈥� by Wildlife Services after the fact, Anderson said she worries that the findings may have been skewed since 鈥渢he government wasn鈥檛 able to investigate these things in real time.鈥�

Catron County conducts its own depredation investigations using a dedicated investigator employed by the Sheriff鈥檚 Office 鈥� the only county in New Mexico or 蜜柚直播 that does so.

County officials have taken a hard-line stance against wolf reintroduction, passing a series of emergency ordinances that broadly define what a 鈥減roblem predator鈥� is and allow sheriff鈥檚 deputies to kill wolves that pose an imminent threat to people.

The rural county even drafted a special 鈥減redator-human interactions complaint form鈥� to document cases in which 鈥渢he behavior of a predator has a direct physical or mental effect upon a human.鈥�

Ranchers can seek compensation

It could be that wolves get blamed for more problems in Catron County because people there don鈥檛 want the predators around, or it could be that people don鈥檛 want the predators around because they cause more problems there than they do anywhere else.

McGee said the majority of the wolves living in New Mexico can be found in Catron County, though that might not entirely explain why so many of the attacks on livestock seem to happen there. He said there are 鈥渄epredation hot spots鈥� in some areas, while in others wolf packs and livestock roam the same land throughout the year with little to no conflicts.

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 figured that out yet,鈥� he said.

Ranch owners never like to lose their livestock, of course, but some forms of depredation are better than others.

McGee said there is a federal grant program, established in 2009, that specifically covers wolf damage to cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and even working dogs. The livestock depredation reports prepared by Wildlife Services are often submitted as proof when ranchers apply for reimbursement.

McGee said ranchers are eligible to receive full, fair market value for animals lost in confirmed wolf attacks. They only get back half of an animal鈥檚 value in the case of 鈥渁 probable wolf kill,鈥� he said.

Advocates worry that such a system creates a financial incentive for livestock operators to blame wolves for every attack, while unfairly compensating ranchers who don鈥檛 do enough to avoid conflicts with predators, especially on public land.

Tuell said ranching operations like that are 鈥渟etting the wolves up for failure.鈥�

Of course, even the best management practices can鈥檛 completely eliminate livestock losses. Wolves will still kill from time to time. 鈥淚t happens, certainly,鈥� Anderson said.

That鈥檚 why thorough investigations are so important, she said. It鈥檚 the only way to identify real, ongoing conflicts with livestock operators and ensure that wolf packs are not being unfairly blamed 鈥� and punished 鈥� for attacks by other predators, including coyotes, feral dogs, bears and mountain lions.

Federal officials involved in the wolf recovery effort should want that, too, Anderson said.

鈥淔or a program that is struggling with political pressure from both directions, we need to have really clear answers,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have more questions than answers.鈥�