Raising Children Among Wolves CRYSTAL RUNYAN DIAMOND, BEAVERHEAD RANCH n April 26, 2013 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) rereleased two problem wolves just a short distance from our ranch at Beaverhead. These troublesome wolves had been
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temporarily removed from the wild after numerous accounts of human encounters and livestock depredations. The male, 1133, was captured near Reserve, NM after numerous reports of loitering around neighborhood homes and other heavily populated areas. The female of the pair and I share some history together. Female 1108 is a member of the Aspen Pack, born at Taylor Creek just ¼ mile from our private property which offered the only
Photo by Crystal Diamond of uncollared wolf near Poverty Creek January 2012
source of water in the area. In fact, during a routine cattle check in 2007, my husband was the first to discover and report the existence of the Aspen Pack den to USFWS. Area residents were already quite familiar with the pack. Earlier that year a terrified 8 year old stood 20 yards from an Aspen wolf as it attacked and killed her hound dog. The pack later returned to their Catron County home to kill her horse. While the Aspen female and her pups were denning near our property we suffered three confirmed cattle depredations. That summer we became well acquainted with the new pups. We kept a close eye on the wolves, an even closer eye on our cattle. In December 2011 I was reunited with an Aspen Pack pup. Female 1105 was now 4 years old. During those 4 years she had been very busy. In her first year alone, she and her pack were charged with “officially” killing 12 yearlings on our neighboring ranch, the Adobe Ranch. In 2010 she had bred with a Black Labrador. When USFWS arrived to euthanize her half-dog litter, she and one pup had disappeared from the den. Disturbing reports of encounters and the habituated behavioral patterns of 1105 were overlooked, as the priority became capturing and destroying the tainted bloodline of the AWOL dog-pup. By Christmas time 2011, the misfit 1105 had found her way onto my front porch. She stood within feet of my 2 and 3-year-old daughters, roughhousing with my border collie. She remained on my porch for the next 12 hours begging to join us, particularly the dogs, inside the house. By the next morning the authorities had arrived. Ignoring all the commotion around my house that day, 1105 was in a full trot returning to the house when she was lethally removed by U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. She was put down 100 yards from my front door; 100 yards from my children. She was returning to a place she felt comfortable, my home. The following month, January 2012, my children and I experienced another close wolf encounter. I had parked my vehicle on the side of the road for the sake of my 3-year-old daughter who was prone to car sickness. As I assisted her on the shoulder of the road my 2 year old remained in the vehicle crying from her car seat. I returned my sick child to the car, strapping her in and then proceed to walk around the rear of my vehicle to find a large, healthy, undaunted wolf standing continued on page 27
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JULY 2013