January 22, 2007

STOP THE HORSE SLAUGHTER

Dear Colleague,

        Horses are being slaughtered in front of family homes in New Mexico.  Above is a picture of the Miller family corral beside their home and the corpse of their family horse, "Six," which was killed on Jan. 9^th.  The same pack of wolves responsible for this attack recently maimed the family dog while it played in their front yard with their 8-year-old daughter.

In the 2^nd District of New Mexico, citizens being asked to support a program for the reintroduction of Mexican Wolves to their communities.  On Jan. 9, this program has taken a disastrous new turn for the worse.  My constituent, Ms. Laura Schneberger of the Gila Livestock Growers Association, has recently written about the attack at the Miller Family house. Mr. Schneberger writes:

"On Jan 9, 2007 the Aspen Pack killed one of the Miller family's horses at the Link Camp in the Gila National Forest.  The kill was on private land and occurred in the corrals approximately 40 feet from the residence.  Approximately a month earlier a member of this same pack attacked one of their dogs in front of their 8 year old daughter near the house.  The horse was killed while the family was away and from the evidence the horse was run from its pasture into the corral, probably seeking help from the family, but unfortunately they were not there to help.  Although even if they were, this pack given its prior history would have likely proceeded to kill this horse unless the family was willing to kill them instead.  The horse belonged to the same little girl that witnessed the dog attack.  The wolves ate the horse and then spent time around the house even defecating on the porch of the house.

"This Aspen Pack was removed from the Blue River area of Arizona because of continuous problems attacking dogs and frequenting the school yard and post office as well as numerous residents.  The USFWS decided to remove this pack because of frequent problems.  However, instead of solving the problem they just moved it to another area.  This pack of wolves is getting bolder and gaining confidence and future problems are likely.  The USFWS management of this pack and others makes very little sense to those impacted and just seems to move them to another area and a new set of victims to violate.  The Aspen Pack has already killed six dogs and now a horse and many of these attacks have occurred with humans present or very near by. 

"It probably is only a matter of time before something more serious may occur with a human.  Although wolf attacks on humans are rare they have occurred.  Because many of these wolves are captive bred and due to the fact that they cannot be killed or harmed unless in the act of killing livestock on private land they have become very aggressive and have very little fear of humans."

The wolf reintroduction program was established by the Fish and Wildlife Service to reestablish Mexican Wolves on federal lands where the wolves could prey on wild game away from the population centers of New Mexico.  Since its inception, this program has produced dire consequences.  Originally, the wolves preyed on cattle owned by Ranchers, across New Mexico.  This tremendous economic burden, for which there is no federal compensation for the rancher's losses, was borne by New Mexico citizens.  More recently, the wolves have started to prey upon family pets including an attack on a family dog that was playing in the front yard of a home with an 8-year-old girl.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to control this wolf pack from preying on cattle, on pets, and now the pack has moved onto horses.  The fear is that this pattern of habituation and escalating level of violence will lead directly to an attack on a child. 

I encourage all members to examine this program.  I urge you to ask the Fish and Wildlife Service what their goals are with this program?  What is their standards for success?  What level of tolerance does the program have for attacks in the front yard of homes and around children?  What is their plan to protect the people of New Mexico?

I believe that this federal program, established against the wishes of the people of New Mexico,  deserves greater scrutiny and for that reason I will continue to give you regular updates on problems in this program.  Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Steve Pearce

Member of Congress