Rocky reintroduction: First 11 months of Colorado wolf recovery plagued with problems


Wolves bring trouble to pastures

Long article which contains videos about the Colorado wolf problem.

Completely predictable.

That vote needs to be reopened!
Polis needs to go too!

George

Duh it is what wolves do.

Modern day pagan worshippers.


Like to forget history.

https://coloradonewsline.com/b...nti-poaching-reward/


Colorado wolf advocates launch $50,000 anti-poaching reward
By: Chase Woodruff - November 22, 2024 4:00 am




A nonprofit that advocates for the restoration of gray wolves in Colorado said this week that it will begin offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information on acts of illegal wolf poaching as the state moves forward with its voter-mandated reintroduction plans.

The announcement of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project’s anti-poaching reward comes after a year of tension between advocates, wildlife managers and ranchers over last winter’s release of the state’s first 10 reintroduced wolves, and just ahead of the arrival of another 10 to 15 animals in the state wildlife agency’s 2024-25 “release season.”

Hunting gray wolves, an endangered species, is illegal in most cases under federal and Colorado law, and a state anti-poaching program, Operation Game Thief, offers rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest or citation of poachers.


But Courtney Vail, chair of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, said the group’s new reward, which is supported by pledges from a range of private donors and advocacy organizations, will “enhance incentives to bring perpetrators of crimes to justice.”

“While enforcement of, and imposition of penalties under, the law (i.e., fines, revocation of hunting privileges, or jail time) are probably the most effective deterrents to illegal activities, we believe that rewards may incentivize the public to ‘say something’ if they ‘see something’ regarding wolf poaching,” Vail said in a written statement. “By establishing and announcing the Wolf Reward, we hope to preempt those seeking to harm wolves as reintroduction unfolds and as wolves navigate their future among Colorado’s public and private landscapes.”

It’s been a turbulent first year for Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program, which is mandated by a statewide ballot measure, Proposition 114, narrowly approved by voters in 2020. The state’s first established wolf pack following reintroduction — consisting of a male and a female who were among the first 10 wolves released in Grand and Summit counties in December 2023, and their four pups — was rounded up by Colorado Parks and Wildlife agents in August after a series of livestock depredations. A short time later, the pack’s adult male died in captivity of what officials said was a preexisting injury.

State and federal wildlife officials said earlier this month that a different reintroduced wolf found dead in Grand County in September had died in a fight with another wolf, but also disclosed that the animal had an “old, healed gunshot wound to its rear leg.” Since the reintroduced wolves, captured last year in Oregon, underwent health screenings at the time, CPW officials say the wolf was likely shot in Colorado.

The Rocky Mountain Wolf Project says measures like the anti-poaching reward are necessary to “preempt targeted violence towards wolves during the initial stages of the reintroduction process to support law enforcement efforts.”

The standing $50,000 incentive will be awarded for “information leading to formal charges against anyone who illegally kills a wolf in Colorado,” the group says, and it will work in conjunction with the state’s existing anti-poaching tip hotline.

Gray wolves are native to Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states, but were hunted to near-extinction by settlers and ranchers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Conservationists and ecologists have backed reintroduction efforts like the one pioneered in Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s, while ranching and hunting interests have fueled a new backlash to reestablished wolf populations.

A formal reintroduction plan approved by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission last year calls for the capture and release of 10 to 15 wolves per year in the program’s first three to five years, with an initial target of a stable population of at least 50 animals within the state. Under Proposition 114, ranchers who lose livestock to confirmed wolf depredations are eligible for compensation from the state, while the federal government has granted a special exemption to the Endangered Species Act that allows for lethal control, as well as “injurious nonlethal” methods and “intentional harassment,” against wolves who threaten livestock.

Ranchers have formally petitioned CPW commissioners to delay the second round of wolf releases scheduled for this winter. CPW announced in September that the agency had reached an agreement with wildlife officials in the Canadian province of British Columbia to capture up to 15 gray wolves there and release them in Colorado between December and March.

I think they should take their money and pay the ranchers for lost livestock and genetics.

The wolf advocates are abusing the ESA and the wolf in order to force the legitimate land uses to give up and quit. It's not about wolves - it's about controlling the land.

quote:

Originally posted by Pancho:
The wolf advocates are abusing the ESA and the wolf in order to force the legitimate land uses to give up and quit. It's not about wolves - it's about controlling the land.

Exactly. They want humans OUT. They do not want us hunting and being the apex predator either.

More wolves, reintroduce grizzlies! Make Colorado Wild Again!

https://biologicaldiversity.or...NDgwNi4xNzM0MzU3OTY0


For Immediate Release, December 18, 2024

Contact:

Alli Henderson, Center for Biological Diversity, (970) 309-2008, ahenderson@biologicaldiversity.org
Lindsay Larris, WildEarth Guardians, (720) 334-730, llaris@wildearthguardians.org
Delaney Rudy, Western Watersheds Project, (970) 648-4241, delaney@westernwatersheds.org
Nicholas Arrivo, The Humane Society of the United States, (202) 961-9446, narrivo@humanesociety.org
Rob Edward, Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, (970) 236-1942, rob.edward@rockymountainwolfproject.org
Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, (202) 792-6211, pwheeler@earthjustice.org

On Anniversary of Reintroduction, Colorado Urged to Proceed with 2025 Wolf Releases

DENVER— Delaying the release of gray wolves into Colorado would be disastrous for the state’s wolf reintroduction program and could violate state law, conservation groups said in a letter today to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission. The groups urged the commission to reject a petition from the livestock industry seeking to pause the historic effort to re-establish gray wolves in the state.

“Industry bullies are trying to undermine the will of voters who want a thriving wolf population in Colorado’s wild areas,” said Alli Henderson, southern Rockies director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The historic work of last year’s reintroduction will be wasted unless the state proceeds with the next wolf releases as planned. We’ll do everything possible to support Colorado’s plans to return wolves to their rightful home range.”

Today marks one year since Colorado’s first release of five gray wolves on state land in Grand County. A second release is planned for early 2025, with 10 to 15 wolves from British Columbia, Canada.

“Coloradans are invested in restoring wolves to our state, and this petition attempts to undermine the democratic intent to achieve a self-sustaining wolf population here,” said Delaney Rudy, Colorado director for the Western Watersheds Project. “The viability of Colorado’s wolf population depends on an influx of individuals and genetic diversity through continued reintroductions without delay.”

In 2020 Colorado voters approved Proposition 114, which requires the wildlife officials to restore a self-sustaining population of wolves to the state starting in 2023. A 2023 management plan requires Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce 10 to 15 annually, and 30 to 50 wolves total, over three to five years.

“Coloradans voted for wolf restoration. Colorado’s ecosystems need wolves. And Colorado’s tiny, nascent wolf population needs continued reintroductions,” said Lindsay Larris, conservation director for WildEarth Guardians. “This petition is just another in a long line of attempts by a subset of the livestock industry to obstruct state law and undermine the will of Colorado voters.”

A petition submitted to the commission by the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association and 20 other livestock industry and anti-wolf groups calls for wolf reintroductions to be paused until Colorado Parks and Wildlife makes certain changes to its rules aimed at favoring the livestock industry.

Today’s letter from conservation groups says pausing the 2025 release would be disastrous for Colorado’s wolves. Failure to expand their population and gene pool would reduce chances for wolves to reproduce, which is inconsistent with the law’s requirement to establish a self-sustaining wolf population. It also would be a significant waste of taxpayer resources.

"Continued reintroductions are necessary to realize Colorado’s historic, democratically mandated effort to reestablish a self-sustaining wolf population," said Nicholas Arrivo, managing attorney for the Humane Society of the United States. "The petition’s flimsy attempt to skirt the law and the will of the voters should be rejected.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has already developed a more robust program that addresses each of the livestock groups’ concerns and requested changes. These include new tools, support and resources to minimize wolf-livestock conflict, like establishing a range rider program and carcass management best practices. Colorado’s wolf management program also provides compensation for any livestock killed by wolves.

“These livestock groups are asking CPW to break the law in order to make rule changes that were already implemented,” said Tom Delehanty, attorney for Earthjustice. “Their petition provides no valid basis to halt reintroduction efforts. We encourage CPW to follow the law and stay the course.”

"Everything that Colorado Parks and Wildlife has put in motion since spring aims to ensure that our livestock producers have the resources and knowledge necessary to protect their livestock and prevent conflicts,” said Rob Edward, president of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project. “In particular, the work of the ad hoc committee charged with establishing a framework for defining and responding to incidents of ‘chronic’ depredation go to the heart of the petition to pause. By the time CPW Director Davis provides his update at the next commission meeting, the sum of agency actions will render the petition moot."

“Colorado compensates the owners of wolf-killed livestock up to $15,000, the most generous compensation program in the country,” the letter states. “Nonetheless, anti-wolf livestock groups and their allies now seek to disrupt Colorado’s democratically enacted reintroduction effort, claiming deficiencies in the state’s management program.”

Scientists estimate that as many as 2 million gray wolves once roamed North America, including much of the contiguous United States. Because of government-sponsored killing programs, wolf numbers in the lower 48 states had dwindled to fewer than 1,000 animals.

An open season on wolves properly managed would work as well as it does on coyotes. trapping and getters and snares would solves the problem Some get gushey over this method, but its all that will work and not hurt the wolf crop and protect the elk and deer herds etc, Experts forget or just plain ignorant by nature as most dont take into consideration that wolves "liter" and may have up to 8 pups whereas deer and elk have twins and most only get one raised for various reasons.

I'd hate to see the wolf totally destroyed and that will never happen, its too late for that so let's go with good management by State gov, not the federal government, who have already proven there lack of knowledge. most of which have never seen a wolf, same with the average American.

quote:

I'd hate to see the wolf totally destroyed and that will never happen, its too late for that so let's go with good management by State gov, not the federal government, who have already proven there lack of knowledge. most of which have never seen a wolf, same with the average American.

It is the over protection that is the problem.

Saw several fresh wolf tracks is morning on my walk

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
That vote needs to be reopened!
Polis needs to go too!

George

THIS!!!

Exactly.

I agree on Polis. To quote Dr Seuss I speak for the wolves!

The ballot measure passed by about 1%. Most people in Denver/Boulder don’t care about what happens on the western slope. It’s pitiful how a simple majority vote controls CO.

Ken

More problems;
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news...94bb9a398385f&ei=148

As said many times.

There were very good reason we got rid of them in the past.