Colorado officials plan to capture up to 15 gray wolves from British Columbia’s interior to help the Centennial State restore the long-lost predator population.
In a statement, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said its experts began their non-lethal search on Friday in accordance with the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Management.
Wolves historically inhabited Colorado, CPW notes, but were hunted to the point of extirpation (local or regional extinction) in the 1940s.
In recent years, the state has tried to reintroduce the species after voters approved a ballot measure to bring it back.
In 2023, the first 10 wolves were brought from Oregon. CPW says adding British Columbia wolves will increase the chances of mating, reproduction and pack formation.
“We are excited to work with BC to bring together our combined experience and expertise while ensuring the safety of animals and staff,” CPW wolf conservation program manager Eric Odell said in a statement.
“This new population of gray wolves will provide additional genetic diversity to the Colorado wolf population.”
Today, our team began operations to bring up to 15 gray wolves to Colorado from British Columbia 🐺
Wolves will be captured and transported in cages to CO, collared and released as soon as possible upon arrival at select sites in Garfield, Eagle and/or Pitkin counties. pic.twitter.com/8wx6THqA6L
Chelsea Greer, director of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s wolf conservation program, says British Columbia’s wild wolf supply is full of unknowns.
“It’s all incredibly stressful and raises some well-being concerns,” Greer said.
“Pretty gloomy”
Greer said the timing to capture the animals now is not ideal.
He said it is currently breeding season for wolves, with social tensions and stress already high.
Greer maintains that wolf populations are also threatened in British Columbia between hunting and the controversial culling of wolves, which she says kills hundreds each year.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimates there are between 5,300 and 11,600 wolves in the province, and Greer suggested an estimate of 6,000.
“They’re both pretty bleak,” he said of the populations.
“We wouldn’t say we’re not in favor of that reintroduction, but when you look at the potential fate of wolves in Colorado and the fate of wolves in British Columbia, would reintroduction in Colorado give them a better chance of surviving? It’s a tall order. . question to be answered and one we won’t really know until it potentially happens.”
The program has also raised concern among Colorado ranchers, concerned about wolves hunting their herds and flocks.
Farmer’s concerns
Tim Ritschard of the Middle Park Livestock Producers Association told CNN that the state had seen cattle deaths after the first reintroduction.
“Two or three weeks later, the wolves were already starting to kill animals. We just didn’t know what that was,” Ritschard said.
CPW says it has implemented measures to prevent conflicts with livestock, such as a herder program and “non-lethal tools.”
He also said British Columbia’s wolves will come from an area where livestock does not overlap, “so there are no concerns about reintroducing wolves that come from packs that are involved in situations of repeated livestock depredations.”
But Ritschard’s groups want to pause this reintroduction.
“I don’t know how they’re going to prepare these people or these non-lethals when we don’t even have them on the ground, ready to go.”
Greer said whether or not wolves thrive in Colorado will depend not only on whether the animals adapt to their new environment but also on the “tolerance and acceptance” of the animals by Colorado citizens.
British Columbia’s Ministry of Water, Land and Resources Management has been contacted for comment on this story.
