{"id":25708,"date":"2024-09-14T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-plans-to-release-up-to-15-additional-wolves-this-winter\/"},"modified":"2024-09-14T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T20:00:00","slug":"colorado-plans-to-release-up-to-15-additional-wolves-this-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-plans-to-release-up-to-15-additional-wolves-this-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado plans to release up to 15 additional wolves this winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE – This photo provided by the National Park Service shows a wolf in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo, Nov. 7, 2017. Six conservation groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday, July 2, 2024, challenging a recent U.S. government decision not to protect wolves in northern Rocky Mountain states as an endangered species. (Jacob W. Frank\/National Park Service via AP, File)<\/span>(Jacob W. Frank\/National Park Service via AP, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced on Friday that it has finalized an agreement with conservation officials in British Columbia to secure up to 15 wolves for the next stage of its controversial and landmark restoration program.<\/p>\n

The wolves will be captured between December 2024 and March 2025 and let loose in the state\u2019s \u201cnorthern release zone\u201d \u2013 an area running along the Interstate 70 corridor between Glenwood Springs and Vail.<\/p>\n

If nothing goes awry, the new animals from Canada will mark the second year of the state\u2019s wolf restoration and management plan, which was mandated by voters and calls for the release of between 10 and 15 wolves over three to five years. Colorado Parks and Wildlife reintroduced an initial batch of 10 wolves sourced in Oregon near Kremmling in December 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s so we can get a base population so there\u2019s enough of a population to form packs,\u201d Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis told CPR News. \u201cIt sounds counterintuitive, but having enough animals out there that they establish packs will help build a sustainable population and help minimize impacts on livestock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis said the nine known adult wolves currently living in Colorado travel hundreds of miles without running into territory claimed by other wolf family units. Once the predators establish packs and live within tighter boundaries, the state can learn their movement patterns to minimize any issues with sheep or cattle.<\/p>\n

Ranchers are disappointed the state is moving ahead with its plans to reintroduce additional wolves this winter. Tim Ritschard, the director of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, said he\u2019d prefer the state pause the reintroduction program for a year while it improved efforts to guard livestock against wolves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that are still unknown. They\u2019re more concerned with putting wolves on the ground than figuring things out with landowners and producers,\u201d Ritschard said.<\/p>\n

The announcement, however, comes after Colorado gave up on efforts to stop the Copper Creek Pack \u2013 the state\u2019s only known wolf family group \u2013 from feeding on livestock in Grand County.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced it had captured the pack\u2019s matriarch and her four pups. The agency is currently keeping the animals in a secure location before re-releasing them somewhere else in the state.<\/p>\n

Wildlife officers also captured the group\u2019s patriarch but said the animal was significantly underweight and had injuries to a hind leg unrelated to the capturing operation. It died a few days later and will soon undergo a necropsy by a third party.<\/p>\n

Three of the 10 wolves released last year have died. The list includes the male wolf from the Copper Creek Pack. In addition, another wolf died this spring after an apparent battle with a mountain lion. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is now investigating what killed a third wolf found dead in Grand County earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Davis insisted those deaths shouldn\u2019t leave anyone to think the restoration effort is a failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all these restoration efforts, we always anticipate some level of mortality,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

After its first set of releases, many nearby ranchers were frustrated about a lack of notification beforehand. Davis said the state will work closely with local elected officials and livestock operators living near any future release locations.<\/p>\n

Colorado will cover all costs of capturing and relocating the wolves.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– This photo provided by the National Park Service shows a wolf in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo, Nov. 7, 2017. Six conservation groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday, July 2, 2024, challenging a recent U.S. government decision not to protect wolves in northern Rocky Mountain states as an endangered species. (Jacob W. Frank\/National Park Service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,1031,28,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-parks-and-wildlife","tag-headlines","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25708","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=25708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25708"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}