news

Colorado’s first pack formed from released wolves will be removed

Vaseline August 28, 2024

The only wolf pack in Colorado that originated from released wolves is being removed from its range in Grand County due to repeated livestock killings.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife, along with technical assistance from federal partners, has launched an operation to capture and translocate wolves from the Copper Creek pack, the state wildlife agency announced in a news release Tuesday evening.

The pack consists of two parents of 10 wolves captured in Oregon and released in Colorado in late December 2023, and at least three wolf cubs that the pair gave birth to this spring. “The decision to capture and relocate the Copper Creek pack was made after careful consideration of multiple factors and feedback from many different stakeholders,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis said in the release. “Our options in this unique case were very limited and this action in no way sets a precedent for how CPW will resolve wolf-livestock conflict in the future. The ultimate goal of the operation is to relocate the pack to another location while we evaluate our best options for them to continue to contribute to the successful recovery of wolves in Colorado.”

The option to remove the wolves is allowed under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s federal 10(j) regulation, which designates the released wolves in Colorado as an experimental population.

According to area ranchers, the pack’s parents have been largely responsible for 16 confirmed wolf attacks on cattle and sheep near the pack’s den and meeting places in Grand County since April 2.

These ranchers have identified the parents of the pack as #2309, an adult gray male from the Weneha pack in Oregon, and #2312, a yearling gray female with no pack name from Oregon.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has not identified the collar numbers of the pack parents. The agency previously confirmed to the Coloradoan that the collar on No. 2309 has been out of service since March 27.

The Weneha pack had confirmed attacks on livestock in Oregon in October and September 2023, just months before No. 2309 was captured in Oregon and released in Colorado.

There have been no attacks on the Weneha pack in Oregon since 2309. Another Weneha pack member, #2307, an adult black male, has been relocated to Colorado.

Reid DeWalt, deputy director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners at their meeting in Colorado Springs on August 23, “We’ve had a few other attacks by other wolves, but nothing on the scale that we’ve seen in Middle Park.”

The Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, which represents Grand County ranchers, has repeatedly asked the state wildlife agency in recent months to remove at least the pack’s parents, and later the pups as well. The latest request from the association and other ranching groups was sent to Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis on Aug. 15.

The agency has repeatedly denied the request, arguing that the state’s wolf population needs to grow in accordance with the state’s wolf recovery plan. On Tuesday, they finally caved to pressure from ranchers.

The state’s recovery plan calls for the release of 30 to 50 wolves over the next three to five years, with a goal of at least 150 to 200 wolves.

“Colorado Parks and Wildlife is committed to fulfilling the will of Colorado voters to successfully restore the gray wolf population while meeting the needs of Colorado communities,” the release said. “As we have done during the implementation of the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, CPW is working with biologists, federal partners, and producers to develop solutions that reduce the risk of additional wolf attacks.”

Tim Ritschard, a Grand County cattleman and president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, said the association is pleased with the decision.

“If a wolf comes in and kills a cow or a calf, that’s tolerable,” Ritschard told the Coloradoan Tuesday night. “If they set up camp and repeatedly attack livestock, that’s where the problem is.

“I’m glad the federal government stepped in and took action before a rancher or local Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff had to. Hopefully, CPW can learn from this and prevent something similar from happening in the future.”

Wildlife advocates strongly condemned the state’s removal of the wolves in a press release Wednesday morning, citing pressure from the ranching community and Colorado Parks and Wildlife as responsible for the pack’s removal.

Mike Senatore, senior vice president of conservation for Defenders of Wildlife, said in the press release that the “action raises serious questions about CPW’s commitment to successful, science-based reintroduction” and that removal is a “risky, short-term solution (and) represents a major setback to human-wolf coexistence in Colorado.”

“This decision is driven by politics, is not rooted in scientific management, and will significantly slow the progress of the reintroduction program,” Senatore said in the release. “All parties involved in the events that led to this deeply rooted decision must be held accountable for not effectively using proven coexistence tools. CPW and ranchers in the region must show clear ownership for developing and implementing plans to prevent these types of scenarios from happening in the future.”

Ritschard wondered what the state wildlife agency would do about the wolves. He said ranchers in Grand County don’t want Colorado Parks and Wildlife to move the wolves elsewhere, believing it would only transfer the pack’s predation tendency to other ranches.

The state wildlife agency has not indicated what it will do with the wolf pack once it is captured.

“For the safety of these animals and staff, CPW will not share the location of the pack members or the operation,” the agency’s press release said. “CPW will provide more information and details at the conclusion of the operation.”

News of the pack’s removal comes days after the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission was informed by the organization that the next planned wolf release would take place in the same area as the first releases in Grand and Summit counties.

DeWalt told commissioners at their Aug. 23 meeting that the next release will be in the Northern Zone.

The northern zone roughly includes Glenwood Springs to the west, Kremmling to the north, Vail to the east, and Aspen to the south. The area includes Interstate 70 running through the middle.

But first, Colorado Parks and Wildlife must secure wolves for the next release, scheduled for late this year or early next. That has proven difficult so far.

Obtaining the needed wolves became even more difficult after the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington informed Colorado Parks and Wildlife in a June letter that it was withdrawing an earlier agreement to send 15 wolves to Colorado later this year and early 2025.