The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has authorized a highly unusual permit allowing a Republican Catron County Commissioner to kill a federally protected Mexican gray wolf.
Historically, when a wolf is dubbed a “problem” from killing too many livestock, it’s removed either lethally or relocated by the federal government.
But, recently, conservationists have noticed the federal government taking a vastly different approach.
“We didn't actually start seeing permits being given to individual ranchers to kill wolves until very recently,” said Greta Anderson, Deputy Director of the Western Watersheds Project in an interview with KUNM. “This is definitely new.”
On Feb. 19, Fish and Wildlife issued a similar permit allowing Catron County Commissioner Audrey McQueen and cattleman Steve Hooper – who operate ranches next to each other in southwestern New Mexico – to unconditionally kill one Mexican gray wolf on their private land, or one wolf that is attacking livestock on nearby public land.
The area comprises private, state trust, and Bureau of Land Management land allotments. Ranchers can pay for a permit to graze their cattle on lands managed by several state and federal agencies.
To Anderson, the problem is this style of permit is very specific and almost always contains a list of recent “events” – usually documented livestock killings – to justify the “management” decision to kill a wolf.
For example, three permits provided to KUNM by the Western Watersheds Project showing authorizations to kill a wolf in 2025 listed the date, a confirmation that the livestock was killed by a wolf, the offending wolf’s pack, and whether the depredation occurred on private or public land.
Though, such a list is notably missing on Commissioner McQueen’s permit – a crucial detail about transparency that alarmed Anderson.
“It's something of a black box how this management decision is being made and that's concerning,” Anderson told KUNM.
When asked about this discrepancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they issued the permit to “address chronic livestock depredations” and referred KUNM to their website for more information.
The permit doesn’t identify which specific wolf the ranchers can shoot.
Commissioner McQueen is a staunch critic of the ongoing Mexican gray wolf recovery effort, and is no stranger to the politics surrounding the lobo. She and her fellow commissioners declared a state of emergency following reports of wolves causing “extreme” damage to livestock in their area.
“We have a lot more problems than just a livestock problem,” McQueen told KUNM in an interview last year. “We have a human health safety issue from the wolves coming into schools, school yards, school grounds, places of business… There've been three or four wolves shot because they've come right into people's yards.”
KUNM has requested records from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May 2025 to back up these claims, but has yet to receive them.
The politics surrounding the lobo – specifically where it’s allowed to roam, and its true effects on the agricultural industry – have reached new tensions lately as conservationists and ranchers debate if wolves deserve to be on the landscape.
“There's an old saying that: ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease,’ and Catron County ranchers have been squeaking to the highest levels in Washington, D.C.,” Anderson said. “I think what we're seeing is the outcome of some real public pressure campaigns from the livestock industry.”
The Mexican gray wolf, which has been on the Endangered Species List since 1976, is currently barred from being hunted, trapped, or harassed under federal law.
Several Republican-backed bills currently making their way through the federal lawmaking process aim to strip these protections away. In Arizona, a separate proposal would open up “opportunities” for trapping and hunting the endangered species.
Messages to Catron County Commissioner Audrey McQueen seeking comment went unanswered before publishing. If KUNM hears back, we will update this story.
