Mexican wolf captured in Chiricahua area of Arizona

[Kali]

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/35037003/mexican-wolf-captured-in-chiricahua-area-of-arizona

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -

Crews with the Interagency Field Team (IFT) captured a female Mexican Gray Wolf on private ranch land in southeastern Arizona, according to a recent Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) release.

The female wolf is part of the ongoing reintroduction effort, she was relocated to the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility in New Mexico where it is reported she is in good health. This female was born in 2016, as part of a captive breeding program in Cananea, Mexico and was released in October 2016 in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico some 90 miles from the international border, according to the release.

She was first sighted in Arizona on March 19, by an AGFD wildlife manager and again on March 22 by ranch employees, before she was caught on March 26.

According to the release when this wolf was spotted on March 22, she did not retreat from the people when they tried to haze her out of the area. Officials believe the wolf was alone and no further wolf sightings have been reported.

more at the link

this is a tough one, I know the owner of the verified cow - wolf ate on her before she died and left a baby calf in the brush. wolves aren't like lions - they will cover a kill and come back to finish it. wolves are more like wild dogs (or the other way around, I suppose) and they will just eat what they want and leave the rest, then kill another next time. they also will kill more than what they need if they can get in that kind of situation (like a pen of horses or other livestock)

there are things a rancher can do - like using day herders and such but it can get expensive. I expect she came north because the Mexican ranchers were less ready for the reintroduction than the folks on this side.

I am torn, I think large pack hunting predators are important for the ecosystem but when you lose a $500 to $1000 at a time from this it can get tight financially pretty fast. and even though there is a compensation program, it requires a lot of documentation and verification, thus rarely pays out. and in rough country it can be hard to find live cows, much less something dead on the ground.

[Warpy]

1. I don't know if tagging and releasing works for wolves with a taste for livestock

I doubt that it does, no matter how remote the release area. They'd just travel to rejoin the pack.

Wolves, however, are the only way to keep the coyote population down. Ranchers lose a lot more to coyotes than to wolves. This really is a tough one.

I suppose individual wolves who are proven to be preying on livestock have to go. The only other thing that could be done is getting rid of fences that prevent livestock from escaping them like they're supposed to be able to, and that is incredibly impractical.

[Kali]

3. the only reason there may be more coyote losses would be numbers but I doubt that anyway

coyotes tend to be loners and generally go for much smaller prey, carrion, garbage, pets, etc. wolves are true pack hunters and can take large game, that is why they are more of a threat to livestock. I don't lose much but chickens to coyotes (skunks are worse!) and an occasional newborn calf maybe. I have animals that have had their tails chewed off and people tell me that is coyotes but I tend to think it is more likely loose domestic dogs.

our cows are mostly horned and half wild so that may contribute to their survival abilities

[rzemanfl]

2. Drumpf says he will build a wall. n/t

[Kali]

4. even the most anti-migrant nut job around here knows how impossible the terrain is for that

fantasy