Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., has asked the U.S. Departments of Interior and Justice about the "liability and threat posed to local communities from actions taken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" related to a recent incident involving wolves near Meeteetse.
Enzi sent a letter today to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Assistant Attorney General Tom Sansonetti in response to a request from the Park County Commissioners. The commissioners asked Enzi to investigate accusations that Fish and Wildlife Service employees planted wolves on private land.
Enzi believes because wolves can be dangerous that "any agency action on this matter should be treated with a strict liability standard."
"The potential for harm that could occur to private landowners and their livestock is significant enough that any relocation effort should, at a minimum, always consider the proximity and location of the point of release," Enzi wrote.
The text of Enzi's letter to Norton and Sansonetti is below.
March 8, 2004
Honorable Gale Norton
Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
Dear Gale:
The purpose of this letter is to request your assistance in determining the liability and threat posed to local communities from actions taken by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to relocate wolves included in the experimental population of gray wolves of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to private property located within the borders of the State of Wyoming. I am also interested in finding out the extent and history of these activities in order to determine to what degree relocation efforts have imposed a burden on private landowners in the past, and what level of threat relocation will impose on Wyoming residents should this practice continue to occur in the future.
On February 14, 2004, Meeteetse, Wyoming, rancher Randy Kruger witnessed representatives from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) release four collared and tranquilized wolves in Mr. Kruger's calving pasture on private lands located inside the jurisdiction of Park County, Wyoming. USFWS Wyoming Wolf Project Leader Mike Jimenez identified himself to Mr. Kruger as one of the men releasing the wolves and acknowledged that he was in charge of the wolf relocation effort.
Mr. Kruger has since requested that Park County officials consider filing trespass charges against the USFWS. The Park County Commission subsequently made a formal request to my office for an inquiry into this matter.
I am deeply concerned about a number of issues that arise from this incident. First, there are several conflicting reports circulating in the press about how and why the wolves ended up in Mr. Kruger's calving pasture. These reports include a belief that Mr. Jimenez released the wolves not knowing he was on private lands, that he began chasing the wolves on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and that he was unable to consult a map to determine land ownership. According to one account, Mr. Kruger's pasture was selected for the release as being the closest flat surface in which to land the agency's helicopter.
It is my belief that the relocation and release of dangerous and deadly predators pose a significant enough threat to the general public and to lives and livelihoods of surrounding communities that any agency action on this matter should be treated with a strict liability standard. The potential for harm that could occur to private landowners and their livestock is significant enough that any relocation effort should, at a minimum, always consider the proximity and location of the point of release. Therefore, regardless of the reason for releasing the wolves on private lands, the fact remains that a dangerous predator was released on private lands in Wyoming without the permission of the private land owner.
How many times has the USFWS released wolves in Wyoming without adequately ascertaining the location of the release? How many times have wolves been relocated by the agency onto private property?
I look forward to your prompt reply and review of this important issue. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Michael B. Enzi
United States Senator
