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Michael Robinson在Writers on the Range發表03.02.00
在11隻墨西哥灰狼(Mexican gray wolves)被野放到位於亞利桑那州(Arizona)東南方的阿帕契國家森林區(Apache National Forest)的兩年之後，加上1998年另外再野放22隻的一年之後，僅有七隻灰狼存活。
目前狼所面對的問題跟原本把它們逼到滅絕邊緣的原因是一樣的：因為家畜興盛的關係，改變公共輿論，迫使政府將看來乾燥，實際上卻極富有生命力的美國西部區域，改變成適合移動速度慢、嗜水的外來種動物生存－牲畜。
每一隻被毒害或被捕捉的狼，跟每一條建有水壩或是改道了的河流一樣，都是因相同的開發思考模式所造成。但在這個為了恢復原有的水生生態系而開始拆除水壩的時代，聯邦機構仍認為牲畜是這塊土地上不可或缺的要角，這使得狼必須像鮭魚一樣，穿梭亂竄於如同水力發電機快速旋轉的葉片之間。
想想Gavilan Pack的例子，每年將五隻幼狼及其父母釋放於以ponderosa松樹及Gambel 橡樹作為分界、有陡峭岩壁的峽谷附近，這個區域曾遭到過度放牧，以至於在去年一個長期掩飾畜牧工業的美國森林署(U.S. Forest Service)安排遷移牲畜，以便讓這個區域能夠復原。但是在當地經營牧場的主人Carlyle Cathcart堅持保有國家森林內的私人財產權而拒絕遷移他的牲畜，同時當地的管理人員也打了退堂鼓，不願意強制執行命令。
官方的生物學家相信牲畜已經被移走了，並在附近釋放Gavilan Pack。不令人意外地，這些狼很快就學會捕食這個區域中的牲畜，因為這個區域中草類植物並不多，恐怕連兔子都不夠吃，更別說是鹿跟麋鹿了。
這些生物學家用死在道路上的動物屍體來誘開這些狼，但卻沒有可用且安全的地方。這些狼越過新墨西哥(New Mexico)州邊界進入吉拉國家森林(Gila National Forest)，墨西哥狼特定復原區的一部份，在那兒遇到一頭死掉的母牛並把它當作食物，不久之後又獵殺另外兩隻牲畜。
結果，政府把Gavilan Pack從野外再捉回來，逃到吉拉荒野北邊正值青少年的雄狼平安無事，而有一隻較年幼的推測可能已死亡。
最近，Mule Pack在吃了一隻牛及馬的屍體之後也被捉回來了，聯邦生物學家害怕這四隻狼會變成習慣於畜養的牲畜，儘管還沒有任何畜養的動物受害，也將這些狼移走。在捕捉的過程中，母狼的腿因為受傷而必須截肢。
現在美國漁業及野生生物署正考慮將再度捕捉回來這組的成員及另一組，直接釋放到吉拉荒野保護區(Gila Wilderness)中安全的地方，包括國家森林周圍超過七十萬英畝、一千平方英哩沒有牲畜的的土地，這裡的土地既廣大又荒野，狼可以在此安全地四處走動、獵食麋鹿、鹿及javelina (美國特有種的三蹄哺乳類動物，俗稱麝香豬: musk hog)，而且不會因為被驅趕遭槍殺，同時也不再有理由捕捉、重新找到它們。
也許有人會認為農場經營者會歡迎將狼釋放到沒有他們牲畜的地方，但事實上在探勘的過程中引起了甚至比之前在阿帕契國家森林(Apache National Forest)的釋放行動還要大的反彈。
二月底，在新墨西哥州Catron郡(Catron County, N.M. )的一次示威行動中，反對狼組織創立者J. Zane Walley把再度引入狼這個行為是「實質上的文化屠殺(virtual cultural genocide)」，當時一個參議員候選人(目前是共和黨的眾議員)Bill Davis告訴他們，吉拉(Gila)這個地方以前是屬於他們祖先的，而聯邦政府以立州的名義從他們手中搶過來。事實上，吉拉森林保留區(Gila Forest Reserve)(後來改名為國家森林)早在1899年時就規劃好了，也就是在新墨西哥州(New Mexico)成立的十三年前，當時尚有少數阿帕契族人藏匿於山上(問問他們的後代子孫什麼叫做「文化屠殺」！)。
然而被說為是最不妥協的畜牧業者就是最後一隻被Gavilan Pack(而他們的下場就是在他們的領土上屍橫遍野)獵殺的那隻牛所有者。在損失了兩頭牛之後，這個在美國銀行(Bank of America)服務，兩年前才搬到新墨西哥(New Mexico)實踐了擁有一座農場的畢生夢想的Judith Cummings堅定地表示：「我們決定留下並捍衛我們的生活方式。」
Cummings小姐當然有權利戴上牛仔帽、騎著馬、然後想像著任何她所想要的世界，但是否應該就為了這樣的夢想，就完全不管這個北美洲最處於危險之中的哺乳類，幫它找一個棲身之地嗎？
大區域性和當地的民意調查都顯示大多數人支持再引入墨西哥狼。不管未來是否決定要在吉拉荒野保護區(Gila Wilderness)給這些狼一個家，都將顯示我們大家決心要保留美國土地上一些小塊區域，並維持他們原來的面貌。
麥可羅賓森住在新墨西哥州的Pinos Altos(Pinos Altos, N.M.)，他是投稿到Writers on the Range，這是一項High Country News所提供的服務。
全文與圖片詳見 : http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/
imho/imho030200.stm
版權歸屬 Environment News Service (ENS)，環境信託協會 （陳均輝 譯，陳維立審校）
中英對照全文詳見：http://news.ngo.org.tw/issue/
animal/issue-animal000302.htm |
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by Michael Robinson, Writers on the Range 03.02.00
Two years after the first 11 Mexican gray wolves were released to much fanfare in the Apache National Forest of southeastern Arizona, and a year after an additional 22 wolves were freed in 1998, only seven remain in the
wild.
The problems the wolves face today are the same as those that originally drove them to the brink of extinction: Livestock interests have usurped the public domain and marshaled the forces of government to transform the dynamic yet dry Western landscape into one in which a slow-moving, water-loving exotic animal could
survive.
Poisoning and trapping every wolf was part of the same development mentality that dictated the damming and diversion of every stream. But in an era when dams are being removed to rehabilitate aquatic ecosystems, federal agencies still regard cattle as an immutable aspect of the landscape, which wolves will have to navigate around like salmon darting between the fast blades of hydroelectric
turbines.
Consider the case of the Gavilan Pack -- an alpha pair, a yearling, and five pups released near a steep-walled canyon lined with ponderosa pine and Gambel oak. This area was so severely grazed that last year a U.S. Forest Service that had long cozied up to the livestock industry ordered cattle removed to allow it to recover. But the local rancher, Carlyle Cathcart, claiming mythical private property rights to the national forest, refused to move his cattle, and the district ranger backed down, unwilling to enforce his own
order.
Government biologists, believing the cattle had been removed, released the Gavilan Pack close by. Not surprisingly, the wolves quickly learned to prey on cattle in an area with so little grass that scarcely a rabbit, much less deer or elk, was available for them to
eat.
The biologists enticed the wolves away with road-kill food. But there was no safe place available. The pack crossed over the New Mexico line into the Gila National Forest, part of the Mexican wolf's designated recovery area, and there encountered a dead cow, fed on that, and shortly afterwards killed two more
cattle.
As a result, the government recaptured the Gavilan Pack and removed it from the wild, save for an adolescent male who escaped into the wilds north of the Gila Wilderness, and a pup who is presumed
dead.
More recently, the Mule Pack was also recaptured after feeding on the carcasses of a cow and a horse. Federal biologists feared these four wolves would become habituated to livestock, and removed them even though no domestic animals had been attacked. In the course of that trapping, the alpha female's leg was injured and had to be
amputated.
Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering releasing members of these and another recaptured pack directly into the safety of the Gila Wilderness, which along with surrounding national forest lands comprises 700,000-plus acres -- over 1,000 square miles -- without cattle. Here is a vast and wild landscape in which wolves can roam safely, preying on elk, deer, and javelina, with no threat of drive-by shootings, and with no reason for them to be trapped and
relocated.
One might think ranchers would welcome wolves being put where their cattle don't roam, but in fact the prospect is eliciting even greater opposition than the original release in the Apache National
Forest.
In late February, at a rally in Catron County, N.M., anti-wolf organizer J. Zane Walley called the reintroduction of wolves "virtual cultural genocide," while a U.S. Senate candidate, State Sen. Bill Davis (R), told the assembly that their ancestors had owned the Gila before the federal government took it from them upon statehood. In fact, the Gila Forest Reserve (later renamed "National Forest") was designated in 1899, 13 years before New Mexico became a state, while a few refugee Apaches were still hiding in the mountains. (Ask their descendants what "cultural genocide"
means!)
But it was the owner of the last cattle killed by the Gavilan Pack (and of the carcass promiscuously left on their territory) who best illustrated the intransigence of the livestock industry. Flush with reimbursement for her two dead cattle, Judith Cummings, a former Bank of America employee who two years before had moved to New Mexico to fulfill her lifelong dream of owning a ranch, stoically proclaimed, "We're determined to stay and fight for our way of
life."
Ms. Cummings is of course entitled to put on a cowboy hat, jump on a horse, and imagine the world any way she wants. But should that dream rule out finding a home for North America's most imperiled
mammal?
Regional and local polls indicate majority support for reintroduction of Mexican wolves. The upcoming decision on whether to give them a home in the Gila Wilderness will indicate the strength of our collective resolve to leave some small scraps of the American landscape the way they used to be.
Michael Robinson lives in Pinos Altos, N.M., and is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News. |
