Federal officials report new incident of wolves killing a cow

By Arthur H. Rotstein ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

TUCSON, Ariz. - Mexican gray wolves killed a cow within eastern Arizona's Apache National Forest, at least the second fatal attack on cattle this year, federal officials confirmed Thursday.

The latest incident occurred within the territory of a pack of eight wolves, including five pups born this spring, southeast of where biologists are rounding up members of a different pack for harassing livestock.

The packs were among five released as part of a program intended to restore the wolves to the wilderness that was once their home.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery program is in its second year. Five of 11 captive-born wolves reintroduced last year were killed, and nearly every other animal from the initial releases was recaptured.

The Mexican gray wolf was trapped, shot or poisoned into extinction in Arizona about 30 years ago.

There have been no other reports of cattle attacks, said Vicki Fox, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services confirmed that wolves killed a cow earlier this week within the territory of the Gavilan Pack, Fox said.

The site is southeast of Horse Springs in the forest, she said.

"Recovery team members have intensified the monitoring of the pack, and are coordinating with the affected rancher," Fox said.

She was unable to say how far that site was from the towns of Alpine and Clifton, or from the site of two previous attacks involving wolves from the Pipestem Pack that left a calf dead.

The Gavilan Pack, released in May into the Apache National Forest, consists of a male and female adult, a yearling male and five pups born in the spring.

It's not known whether the pack will be recaptured, Fox said.

Fish and Wildlife officials began recapturing the Pipestem Pack after attacks on cattle and complaints from ranchers in the rugged hill country north of Clifton in and around the national forest.

Efforts are continuing to recapture the Pipestem Pack's adult female. Her mate and a male yearling, as well as two of her pups, have been captured, and the pups have been placed in an enclosure to lure the mother inside, Fox said.

Members of the recovery team do not know whether there are other pups still on the loose, she added.

Officials have not decided whether the Pipestem pack ever will return to the wild.

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