Ranch hand disputes claim that he lured endangered wolf

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A Catron County rancher is disputing a report that he baited an endangered wolf into killing a pregnant cow.

The June 23 kill on the Adobe-Slash Ranch in the Gila National Forest triggered a key provision of the federal government's Mexican wolf recovery program: a rule that requires removing a wolf from the wild if it is found to have killed livestock three times in one year.

After the livestock kill, federal officials ordered the Durango pack female, with three strikes against her, shot and killed. She was fatally shot on July 5.




The U.S. Fish and Wildlife is looking into the report in High Country News - an online, independent biweekly news magazine, that quoted Miller as saying, "We would sacrifice a calf to get a third strike."

The article, written by contributing editor John Dougherty, reported that Miller "branded cattle less than a half-mile from the wolves' den, the enticing aroma of seared flesh surely reaching the pack's super sensitive nostrils."

Miller said Thursday that he did not try to bait the Durango pack alpha female into a cattle-kill that would require her removal.

"He (Dougherty) should be writing children's books," Miller said. "He made that all up, that whole story. I sat there and laughed at it. ... There ain't nothing about that whole story that has any truth to it."

High Country News editor Jonathan Thompson said the magazine stands by its story.

Representatives of environmental organizations in Arizona and New Mexico, where the wolves are being reintroduced, said they are outraged by the account and called on federal officials to suspend the ranch's grazing leases.

Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity said Miller's conduct, if true, would be "illegal and unethical."

Intentionally attracting wolves to a location is prohibited by federal law, said Fish and Wildlife spokesman Jose Viramontes.

"Since protocols require that we remove wolves after three livestock kills, it's extremely important that those kills not be set up or have any human influence," he said.

He said the agency would check into the article's claim.

Laura Schneberger, president of the Gila Livestock Growers Association, said Miller and his wife are "sweet people" and good caretakers of livestock.

"They would never do such a thing," she said. "That would be so abusive. It's beyond my scope of imagination."