Commentary: Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources held an oversight hearing on the status of the Federal Government’s management of wolves. This follows a recent Inspector General report that confirmed numerous allegations of lies, falsification, mismanagement, and manipulation of data made by Catron County residents against the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) management of the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program.
“When residents in Catron County contacted me regarding their concerns about FWS’s management of the Wolf Recovery Program, my team immediately requested the Inspector General conduct a thorough investigation of the program. What the Inspector General found was that most of the County’s allegations were true. The IG report clearly demonstrated that those at the top levels of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) tolerated a culture of lies, falsification, mismanagement, and manipulation of scientific data in their management of the Mexican Gray Wolf Program.
“The deplorable management of the wolf program in Catron County hurt jobs in New Mexico, risked public safety, and failed to actually save any wolves. Today’s hearing made it clear that the agencies’ mismanagement of the program has continued. While the IG report was very eye opening, it failed to answer a number of substantive concerns brought up by the County. For these reasons, I believe that a deeper investigation into the program is absolutely warranted to ensure that those affected most are given the answers they deserve,” said Congressman Pearce.