[June 21, 2008] Support for Wolf Program Doubted Tweet (Albuquerque Journal (NM) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 21--LAS CRUCES -- The chairman of the Catron County Commission, one of the staunchest critics of the Mexican gray wolf recovery effort, does not place much stock in a recent survey showing strong New Mexico support for the project. A public opinion survey, commissioned by 19 conservation groups, showed 69 percent of New Mexican voters either strongly support or somewhat support the 10-year-old reintroduction of the endangered gray wolf in southwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona. Twentyone percent of registered voters said they oppose the recovery effort, according to results released Monday. "The survey may tell us how people think who know only one side, but what does that have to do with the reality of the Mexican wolves here in the recovery area?" said Ed Wehrheim, chairman of the Catron County Commission, which last year passed an ordinance asserting the right to remove wolves deemed threats to the community from the wild. "In polling people whose opinions are formed by biased information, and who don't know firsthand or even secondhand what is really going on, the survey is pretty useless," Wehrheim said. The survey, conducted by Research and Polling Inc., questioned 507 registered voters across the state between April 25 and May 11, and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. There are 52 wolves in the recovery area, which straddles the New Mexico-Arizona border and covers Catron County. Environmentalists say aggressive federal management of the wolf population has prevented it from thriving. To see more of the Albuquerque Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.abqjournal.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]