At its November meeting, the New Mexico Game Commission decided not to decide on the Ladder Ranch permit to hold endangered Mexican gray wolves.
Previously, the commission denied the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a permit to import and release wolves into New Mexico. But because the Endangered Species Act is a federal law, it trumps state and local laws, according to the U.S. constitution. The U.S. Department of the Interior has given the green light to the Fish and Wildlife Service to release wolves into New Mexico anyway, because these releases are critical to the genetics and future viability of the Mexican wolf.
The Commission also had denied a permit to the Ladder Ranch to hold Mexican wolves in its facility, which was built and in use for this purpose on a private ranch in southern New Mexico. The Ladder Ranch has appealed this decision, and the Game Commission gets to vote again, this time at its meeting in Santa Fe at the community college on January 14.
Mark your calendars!
Photo by Eric Kilby
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