Today the Earth First! Journal released its official stance on appropriate Mexican gray wolf management in the Southwest:
“It is the stance of the the Earth First! Journal that wise and careful management of the Mexican gray wolf be carried out in accordance to the rules of wild law laid out by Mexican gray wolves themselves. Habitat boundaries should extend as far as each pack deems necessary for their survival and pursuit of happiness. To ensure proper management of the Mexican gray wolf, a wise and careful management of human infrastructure must be set in place that includes the dismantling of all industry and corporate commerce, the decommission of all roads and the destruction of all human domiciles larger than a tent within the wolves’ anticipated area of expansion. We also recommend that such a management plan be followed by a hands-off program of naturally occurring rewilding. We anticipate that under such a management plan most of New Mexico and Arizona will become more hospitable to a thriving Mexican gray wolf population and will usher in the return of a more healthy human relationship with the land.”
The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) is a subspecies of the North American gray wolf and is one of the most endangered mammals in the United States. The agencies currently in charge of their “management,” such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, were responsible, historically, for trapping and poisoning nearly every last one of the remaining wild Mexican gray wolves throughout the early 20th century on behalf of the cattle industry.
At the time of this press release, less than 80 Mexican gray wolves exist in the wild, with only a small handful of breeding pairs remaining. Though Mexican gray wolves traditionally roamed an area that included Texas and most of Mexico, current wolf reintroduction program has limited the animals to a recovery area along the Arizona-New Mexico state line, where they struggle to gain a foothold. Currently, any wolf leaving the recovery area is captured and returned.
Over its 33-year history, Earth First! activists have used hunt sabotage to disrupt hunts across the country. On August 12, 2013 the Earth First! Journal released the Earth First! Wolf Hunt Sabotage Manual, which explains how to find and destroy wolf traps, handle live trapped wolves in order to release them, and various methods, including the use of air-compressed horns and smoke-bombs, for stopping wolf hunts. The manual, available free online, was published partially in response to the Obama administration’s announced plan to push for nearly all gray wolves, excepting those in the Southwest, to be stripped of endangered species protections.
The Mexican gray wolf is listed as “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and is listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Earth First! is an international radical environmental movement which began in 1979. The movement also publishes a quarterly magazine and online newswire.
