skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

AZ Game and Fish Bids to Take Over Gray Wolf Recovery

play audio
Play

Tuesday, December 21, 2010   

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Arizona Game and Fish Department has written to the state's congressional delegation, urging removal of the Mexican gray wolf from federal Endangered Species Act protection. The department argues Arizona could take over the Mexican wolf recovery program and operate it more efficiently and cost-effectively. But Eva Sargent, southwest program director for Defenders of Wildlife, disagrees. When the state used to run the wolf recovery program, for a period of six years, she says it nearly drove the population to extinction through excessive wolf removals.

"Arizona even proposed, at one point, a moratorium on releasing more wolves, which they championed right up until it became apparent that there were so few breeding pairs that not even their own low criteria would allow them to do that."

With only 42 Mexican gray wolves left in the wild along the Arizona-New Mexico border, Sargent says removing federal protection could doom the remaining, fragile population.

Arizona Game and Fish says federal red tape has gridlocked Mexican wolf conservation efforts for decades. However, Sargent says she is encouraged by recent federal progress, including an end to the removal of Mexican wolves from the wild.

"They've finally got a recovery team of scientists put back together that's supposed to meet early next year. They're doing the first release of a Mexican wolf in two-and-a-half years, and Arizona ought to be lending their support to these new efforts, not bickering over who's in charge."

Sargent is convinced that, if Congress removes Endangered Species Act protection for Mexican gray wolves, the decision will be based on politics, not science.

"There's no scientific basis for saying that a species with 42 individuals in the wild and only two breeding pairs should lose federal protection. The Mexican wolf needs more protection, not less."

She also doesn't believe Arizona has the resources or manpower to monitor the endangered wolves and prevent poaching, especially since the wolves' territory covers two states and is slated for expansion into northern Mexico.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021