Wolves in Colorado kill sheep
On July 28, 2024, eight sheep were killed by wolves on a ranch in Grand County.
Four Colorado ranching organizations sent a letter to Governor Jared Polis and Parks and Wildlife Agency Director Jeff Davis on Thursday urging them to put an end to the wolf attacks that ranchers have suffered in recent months.
The Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, the state’s largest cattle ranching organization, as well as the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, North Park Stockgrowers Association and Routt County Cattlemen’s Association addressed a variety of concerns in the letter about what they see as poor implementation of the state’s wolf reintroduction plan.
The focus of the long letter was calling for the lethal removal of the two released wolves that had given birth to at least one cub this spring and were known as the Copper Creek Pack in Grand County.
“The depredations in the areas covered by these local organizations, along with the recent denial of an application by Middle Park Stockgrowers for a permit to control chronic depredations, underscore broader systemic problems that we believe threaten not only the livelihoods of ranchers, but also the long-term viability of a balanced wolf-livestock management strategy in our state,” the letter said.
The Coloradoan asked Colorado Parks and Wildlife for a response to the letter at 12:25 p.m. Thursday. A response has not yet been received.
The letter states that Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s recent denial of a kill permit, despite documented and increasingly frequent depredations, “highlights a disturbing trend of placing wolves above the legitimate needs and rights of ranchers. Protecting predatory apex predators should not come at the expense of ranchers who have demonstrated a clear and ongoing threat to their livestock and livelihoods.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed that 24 cattle and sheep have been killed by wolves since April 2, including the most recent depredation of eight sheep on July 28 in Grand County. Those 24 depredations occurred in Grand, Jackson and Routt counties.
The letter points out that the number of lootings does not include undocumented losses of missing livestock and other suspected deaths of ranchers that “CPW could not or would not consider as looting earlier this year.”
“CPW has confirmed that many of the confirmed depredations were caused by just two of the approximately twelve gray wolves found in Colorado,” the letter said.
One of the wolves captured in Oregon and released in Colorado in late December was killed by a mountain lion. The state wildlife agency collared 12 known wolves in the state. Two of those collars no longer work, according to the agency.
The state wildlife agency previously confirmed to the Coloradoan that one of the non-functioning collars was Wolf 2309.
Grand County ranchers told the Coloradoan that they had determined from video and images from trail cameras, tracks, numerous sightings over several months and locations where wolves had been released that 2309 was the breeding male of the Copper Creek pack and that the animal, they say, is the primary cattle predator near the den.
Wolf 2309 is an adult male wolf who was part of the Weneha Pack in Oregon. This pack had two confirmed livestock raids in Oregon in October and September 2023, just months before the December release in Colorado.
They also said they had identified the Copper Creek pack’s breeding female as wolf #2312 through numerous sightings and told the Coloradoan they believed she was another major offender among cattle herders in the area.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a policy of not publicly releasing collar numbers of individual wolves to protect wolves and has not confirmed 2309 or 2312 as the breeding pair or the primary predators of livestock in Grand County.
The ranching organizations have repeatedly asked Director Davis to remove these two wolves. Davis refused, saying it would interfere with the ability to increase the state’s wolf population to at least 150 to 200 wolves over the next three to five years, as envisioned in the state’s recovery plan.
By comparison, Thursday’s letter said that in 2023, 32 livestock were confirmed to have been killed by wolves in Montana, which has a wolf population of 1,096, just eight fewer than in Colorado, where 12 wolves are known.
“The obvious reason Montana has experienced fewer depredations per wolf is because Montana effectively manages its wolf population,” the letter states. “In contrast, CPW has demonstrated an alarming unwillingness to address wolf-livestock conflicts, setting a dangerous and untenable precedent. By refusing to manage problem wolves, CPW has allowed depredations of livestock to continue unchecked while simultaneously fostering a pack of rapacious wolves.”
Tim Ritschard, a Grand County rancher and chairman of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, told the Coloradoan on Thursday that the state wildlife agency continues to shift the rules of the game for ranchers, making things more complicated for them.
“We want them to finally make the decision to remove these wolves,” he said. “We are not reinventing the wheel; wolves have already been removed with fatalities in five states.”
The letter said denying the kill permit would further undermine trust and cooperation between producers and wildlife managers and jeopardize the long-term sustainability of Colorado’s livestock industry.
“A more balanced, honest and transparent strategy is needed – one that allows lethal measures when clearly justified, that ensures that non-lethal measures are practical and effective in Colorado, and that respects ranchers’ rights. CPW’s decision to permit chronic depredation needs to be reconsidered; a permit should be issued as soon as possible.”
