News

Trapping bill highlights state’s urban/rural divide

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Mary Katherine Ray has seen traps up close. One caught the leg of her dog Greta while they were hiking. “I will never forget the sound of Greta’s screaming,” Ray told a New Mexico legislative committee on Thursday. It was a story lawmakers heard over and over again — a story of beautiful days outdoors turned bloody by traps lurking in the brush. Animal welfare advocates and others are renewing a years-long effort to ban trapping on public lands in New Mexico.

News

Scientists urge release of wolves to protect species

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ALBUQUERQUE – Scientists and wild animal advocates are calling on federal authorities to release at least five packs of Mexican gray wolves into New Mexico’s Gila National Forest to preserve the endangered species. Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chair of the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club, says the move is necessary to avoid inbreeding among the last 110 wolves living in the U.S.

She says scientists and 43 conservation organizations sent a sent a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell after state officials failed to act. “Actually, New Mexico has a law that requires the state to recover endangered species,” Ray points out. “And the gray wolf is a New Mexico state-listed endangered species, as well as a federally listed one.” Some ranchers and hunters maintain increasing the number of wolves in the Gila National Forest could lead to loss of livestock and elk.

Center for Biological Diversity

Game Commission says no to more Mexican Gray Wolves

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The state Game Commission denied a permit to allow the release of more Mexican Gray Wolves into New Mexico. The commission’s denial on Tuesday upheld the decision of a previous director. That initial decision was appealed by federal officials. The endangered species has been part of a controversial reintroduction program in the southwest by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Farmers and ranchers have been against the program, saying the wolves feed on livestock.