For Immediate Release, December 18, 2020
Contact: Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project, (520) 623-1878, greta@westernwatersheds.org
New Documents: New Mexico Rancher Who Pleaded Guilty to Bludgeoning Endangered Wolf Admitted Trapping, Beating One More
FLAGSTAFF,
Ariz. New documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity show that a New Mexico rancher confessed to trapping and beating at least one other endangered Mexican gray wolf in 2015. In 2018 rancher Craig Thiessen pleaded guilty to brutalizing a wolf he had trapped in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
Thiessen’s 2018 plea agreement for bludgeoning the Mexican wolf, named ‘Mia Tuk’ by an Albuquerque schoolchild, made no mention of crimes involving other wolves. But a Sept. 2, 2020, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report on another wolf from the same pack says its skull was found near Thiessen’s grazing allotment.