{"id":24700,"date":"2024-11-23T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-wolf-advocates-launch-50000-anti-poaching-reward\/"},"modified":"2024-11-23T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T21:00:00","slug":"colorado-wolf-advocates-launch-50000-anti-poaching-reward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-wolf-advocates-launch-50000-anti-poaching-reward\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado wolf advocates launch $50,000 anti-poaching reward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE – In this photo provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, wildlife officials release five gray wolves onto public land in Grand County, Colo., Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (Colorado Natural Resources via AP)<\/span>(Colorado Natural Resources via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The announcement of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project\u2019s anti-poaching reward comes after a year of tension between advocates, wildlife managers and ranchers over last winter\u2019s release of the state\u2019s first 10 reintroduced wolves, and just ahead of the arrival of another 10 to 15 animals in the state wildlife agency\u2019s 2024-25 \u201crelease season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But Courtney Vail, chair of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, said the group\u2019s new reward, which is supported by pledges from a range of private donors and advocacy organizations, will \u201cenhance incentives to bring perpetrators of crimes to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile 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 \u2018say something\u2019 if they \u2018see something\u2019 regarding wolf poaching,\u201d Vail said in a written statement. \u201cBy 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\u2019s public and private landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a turbulent first year for Colorado\u2019s wolf reintroduction program, which is mandated by a statewide ballot measure, Proposition 114, narrowly approved by voters in 2020. The state\u2019s first established wolf pack following reintroduction \u2013 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 \u2013 was rounded up by Colorado Parks and Wildlife agents in August after a series of livestock depredations. A short time later, the pack\u2019s adult male died in captivity of what officials said was a preexisting injury.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cold, healed gunshot wound to its rear leg.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The Rocky Mountain Wolf Project says measures like the anti-poaching reward are necessary to \u201cpreempt targeted violence towards wolves during the initial stages of the reintroduction process to support law enforcement efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The standing $50,000 incentive will be awarded for \u201cinformation leading to formal charges against anyone who illegally kills a wolf in Colorado,\u201d the group says, and it will work in conjunction with the state\u2019s existing anti-poaching tip hotline.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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 \u201cinjurious nonlethal\u201d methods and \u201cintentional harassment,\u201d against wolves who threaten livestock.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Newsline, visit www.coloradonewsline.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– In this photo provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, wildlife officials release five gray wolves onto public land in Grand County, Colo., Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (Colorado Natural Resources via AP)(Colorado Natural Resources via AP) A nonprofit that advocates for the restoration of gray wolves in Colorado said this week that it will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,28,2009,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-headlines","tag-hunting","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24700"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}