01/24/2025
Is there no end to the “wolf wars”?
By Robin Ferruggia
The Surveyor
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has denied the citizen petition filed by the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and 24 other associations with interests in wolf reintroduction issues.
The main reasons why the petition was denied were that halting the reintroduction would violate Proposition 114 which voters approved to reintroduce wolves in Colorado, increase wolf depredation behavior and because the seven conditions petitioners requested be met before further releases of wolves were either currently being or have been addressed by CPW.
“The science guiding wolf reintroduction indicates that individual wolves who have not formed into packs move unpredictably, range across a greater geographical footprint and may be more likely to resort to livestock as a food source,” said Jeff Davis, Director of CPW.
Chronic depredation was defined as “three or more depredation events caused by the same wolf or wolves within a 30-day period, provided there is clear and convincing evidence that at least one of the depredating events was caused by wolves.”
The expanded and improved capabilities CPW has available for producers this year through the Conflict Minimization program will allow for faster response from CPW to conflicts and a higher likelihood of effective non-lethal deployment. This work results in improved strategies for altering depredation behavior early and reducing the potential for repeated depredations.
Over the past month, CPW released 15 new wolves from British Columbia into Eagle and Pitkin counties. The capture, transport and holding of the wolves was authorized under British Columbia’s Wildlife Act. The export of wolves from British Columbia to Colorado is permitted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), administered by the Canadian Wildlife Service.
The wolves were captured from areas in British Columbia where predator reduction is occurring to support caribou recovery.
Gray wolves from this area of British Columbia do not overlap with areas where livestock are present, so there are no concerns that the wolves selected have been involved in repeated livestock depredations.
Five wolves from the Copper Creek pack, the female and her four pups, were also released into Eagle and Pitkin counties.
No further releases are planned for the 2024-2025 capture season. This is the second of three to five release seasons of wolves.
Because of the safety risk and security needs of their staff and the animals, CPW did not share wolf release details while the operation was underway. During this complex wildlife operation, staff safety was threatened as CPW offices were watched and threatening social media posts and phone calls were received.
The wolves may also be at risk.
Two of the ten wolves reintroduced in 2023 have been illegally shot.
The gray wolf in Colorado is protected by the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and state law. Penalties for illegal poaching can vary and include fines up to $100,000, jail time and loss of hunting privileges.
In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed the male wolf from the Copper Creek pack. The reward is over $100,000 and is part of a multi-agency effort that includes conservation organizations and individuals.
But despite the efforts of CPW and many meetings they held with stakeholders, opposition towards wolf reintroduction remains strong in Colorado.
House Reps. Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd filed a joint statement on Jan. 13 urging the incoming Trump administration to federally delist the wolves and to “take immediate action to stop further importation of these foreign predators into the United States.”
SmartWolfPolicyCO.com is planning to bring a measure to repeal Prop. 114 in the 2026 election.
The initiative is targeted toward individuals who have felt the negative impacts of the wolf reintroduction, such as ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, hunters and hunting guides.
Chuck Duray, a Colorado rancher, educator and retired Army Lt. Colonel, is a spokesperson for the group.
Although much of CPW’s concern is focused on wolf depredation, the problems with wolf reintroduction go well beyond occasional depredation events.
CPW is mismanaging wolf reintroduction, Duray said. Research studies have shown the stress caused to livestock by the added presence of wolves negatively impacts their health and consequently the quality of the beef ranchers can provide to consumers, he said. “Chronic depredation also results in less gestation rates. But research has not been done of Grand County gestation and breeding cattle.”
Ranchers like Duray put a lot of time, money and effort into their herds and want to produce the best beef they can.
CPW should have asked the stakeholders what they thought about how to manage the wolves before Prop. 114 passed. Their failure to do so resulted in compensation costs being much higher than originally budgeted, he said.
Cattle get an undeserved bad name too. Although they produce methane when they belch, research has shown that they are also “carbon uptakers,” he said. The grazing process can indirectly contribute to increased carbon sequestration in the soil by stimulating root growth and plant diversity, making them part of the natural carbon cycle.
Those who complain about the use of public lands to graze cattle do not mention—and may not know—that the money livestock producers pay to lease state lands goes to the Colorado Department of Education by state law. In 2024-2025, $3 million went to roofing repairs and other projects for schools in Larimer County and Weld County received a $1.5 million grant for a school replacement and other repairs.
“It’s not just about dollars and cents,” said Matt Barnes, a rangeland scientist and wildlife conservationist with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative.
“Wolves are scapegoats,” he said. “The debate over wolf reintroduction is symbolic. Ranchers are closely tied to history and the settlement of the frontier. They tend to view it as heroic. Others may see it as stealing land from native people and destroying the wildlife. We need to resolve the issues about who has a right to this land and why. We need to acknowledge the theft of the land and the pioneering spirit of those who came here.”
“Blind faith in reintroduction programs means some animals will be harmed and killed who otherwise would have gone on to live more normal lives,” said Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“Some wolves will die to help other of their species and these sorts of trade-offs don’t work for me because the life of every single individual matters to the individual and every life should matter to us,” he said. “Individual wolves don’t care if their species goes extinct.”
“Sentient, highly social and extremely intelligent and emotional wolves have become objectified pawns in pretty much a human-centered program and it’s about time we consider what they want and need from us when we choose to interfere in their lives, move them here and there, and then allow them to be harmed and killed.”
“The realistic solution is no lethal control. If we wouldn’t treat dogs like this, why would we treat their wild relatives as unfeeling objects? Wolves also are stakeholders in these experiments,” he said. “I strongly opposed decimating the Copper Creek pack, Colorado’s first family group of wolves in about 90 years, because it was scientifically and ethically unsound.”
These diverse but powerful viewpoints about wolves and wolf reintroduction seem to have one thing in common and that is a feeling of grief, loss, fear of loss and a sense of betrayal of trust by CPW for having failed to address them.
“Things need to change,” said Erin Karney, vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. “We’re talking past each other.”
If you have any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed the male wolf from the Copper Creek pack please contact the USFWS wildlife crime hotline at 1-844-FWS-TIPS (397-8477), email [email protected] or submit a tip online at www.fws.gov/wildlife-crime-tips.
