To: Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
Petition for New Mexico's Endangered Wolves
Governor Martinez and New Mexico Game Commission,
We, the undersigned, respectfully and urgently request that you:
1. Reverse the New Mexico Game Commission’s 5/7/2015 decision not to renew a permit for the Ladder Ranch to assist with recovery of state- and federally-protected Mexican gray wolves through providing secure holding pens for wolves en route to or from the wild;
2. Ensure the Game Commission rescind its rule promulgated on 11/13/14 which requires, for the first time, Commission approval for permits allowing private facilities to assist in recovery and reintroduction programs for mammalian carnivores;
3. Request of the Game Commission and NM Department of Game and Fish that they act as good faith partners in the reintroduction of these endangered wolves, including by granting U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits to release wolves in New Mexico, and cease misguided efforts to undermine the Mexican gray wolf program; and
4. Put an end to state persecution of large carnivores, including proposals to allow cruel trapping of cougars and to expand bear hunting in New Mexico.
We, the undersigned, respectfully and urgently request that you:
1. Reverse the New Mexico Game Commission’s 5/7/2015 decision not to renew a permit for the Ladder Ranch to assist with recovery of state- and federally-protected Mexican gray wolves through providing secure holding pens for wolves en route to or from the wild;
2. Ensure the Game Commission rescind its rule promulgated on 11/13/14 which requires, for the first time, Commission approval for permits allowing private facilities to assist in recovery and reintroduction programs for mammalian carnivores;
3. Request of the Game Commission and NM Department of Game and Fish that they act as good faith partners in the reintroduction of these endangered wolves, including by granting U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits to release wolves in New Mexico, and cease misguided efforts to undermine the Mexican gray wolf program; and
4. Put an end to state persecution of large carnivores, including proposals to allow cruel trapping of cougars and to expand bear hunting in New Mexico.
Why is this important?
Mexican gray wolves are one of the most endangered wolves in the world, with only 110 in the wild. In the past few months, the NM Game Commission has repeatedly sought to obstruct Mexican gray wolf recovery, first by denying, without justification, the 17 year old permit for Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch to continue assisting with the Mexican wolf reintroduction and then by denying the U.S. Fish and Wildlife a permit to release Mexican gray wolves into New Mexico, which is necessary to boost the wild population’s declining genetic health. The NM Game Commission, appointed by Governor Martinez, is clearly out of touch with the majority of New Mexico's voters, who overwhelmingly support the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction.