SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR BABBIT ANNOUNCES HISTORIC COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND THE U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE.

Under the terms of the new agreement, packs of wolves, imported from Canada, will be introduced into several DOE Laboratories and its Headquarters office in Washington, DC. In particular, the DOE defense and energy research laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, Oak Ridge, TN, Los Alamos, NM, Livermore, CA, Denver, CO, and Chicago, IL have been targeted. "Wolves are an endangered species that need special protection to allow their populations to increase," said Babbit. "Private landowners have objected to releasing wolves in National Parks, fearing that they will wander onto private lands and attack livestock. This agreement represents an innovative compromise that will allow the wolves to prosper in areas where the public will have no objection to their presence."

The Secretary of Energy, Hazel R. O'Leary was present at the Department of Interior press conference. When asked for her reaction to the plan, O'Leary said, "The Department is undergoing unprecedented downsizing in response to the desire on the part of the Clinton Administration and the U.S. Congress to reduce the size and cost of the Federal Government. This agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service will introduce ecologically sound management practices that will replace the 'business as usual' approach to personnel issues at DOE. Federal agency work forces are no different than overpopulated herds of deer or elk in our country today. We, too, need to thin the herds," said O'Leary.

Secretary Babbit interrupted Mrs. O'Leary to reassure DOE and laboratory employees that the vast majority of them would be unaffected by wolf pack predation. "Keep in mind that wolves tend to prey mostly on the weak and slow," Babbit said. "Most employees can move pretty fast and stay out of harm's way. If you keep alert and show no fear, chances are the wolves will leave you alone. Our wildlife experts tell me that 95% of employees will be unaffected by wolf predation in an average year."

An information brochure, entitled "Adapt or Die," will be distributed to all DOE laboratory employees. The brochure explains the ecological basis for this new management policy. It also points out that there are severe penalties for harming endangered wolves, even in self-defense. It says, "Keep in mind that humans are not an endangered species and, therefore, lack protection under the law."