NM Game and Fish Commission denies Ted Turner Ladder Ranch’s appeal to support lobo recovery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 14, 2016

Contact: Catalina Tresky: ctresky@defenders.org; (202) 772-0253

NM Game and Fish Commission denies Ted Turner Ladder Ranch’s appeal to support lobo recovery

SANTA FE, N.M. - Today, the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission denied Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch the opportunity to maintain an active role in Mexican gray wolf recovery when it refused the ranch’s appeal for a permit to hold Mexican gray wolves on Ladder Ranch.

Eva Sargent, Defenders of Wildlife’s senior Southwest representative, issued the following statement:

“We are incredibly disappointed in the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission’s decision today. It was our hope that the commission would heed the advice of the scientific community and allow Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch to continue its past conservation program for holding Mexican gray wolves before their release back into the wild.

“Put simply, the commission is jeopardizing the continued recovery of New Mexico’s lobos. It is also ignoring the wishes of local communities across the state that overwhelmingly support wolf restoration efforts by 69 percent.

“Ted Turner and his Ladder Ranch team deserve a lot of credit for continuing to ‘walk the walk’ as long-time supporters of lobo recovery efforts. It is sad to see the commission blocking this sort of admirable private conservation initiative.”

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