Colorado ranchers raise concerns after second wolf depredation
KREMMLING, Colo. (KDVR) — Dozens of Colorado ranchers voiced their concerns and questions to wildlife officials on Tuesday after learning of a second calf killed by one or more of the recently reintroduced wolves in the state.
The meeting was slated for an hour and a half but lasted almost three hours instead.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed different wolves that were part of the 10 reintroduced to Colorado in December 2023 killed the two calves.
“106 days later, we have our first kill. A week after that, we have a second kill,” Grand County Commissioner Merrit Linke said. “It’s frustrating.”
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After hearing that a number of definitions surrounding these depredations, which would impact permits and wording around acting against the wolves, have not been fully sorted out yet, one rancher asked if CPW should have waited before starting this process and reintroducing the wolves.
“The blanket answer to that is yes,” a CPW employee responded in the meeting. “The kicker with that whole thing is that we’re the agency that’s being charged with creating all these rules in this process, but we’re not the ones that started this whole mechanism at the beginning of it. That was put in place by voters. We subsequently were provided with a timeline that, to be fair, that’s not a timeline that we had any chance of succeeding.”
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Concerned Coloradans went back and forth with wildlife officials in the meeting.
“We’ve been experiencing quite a bit of wolf presence in our herd with our cows,” rancher Adam VanValkenburg said. “It’s kind of gut-wrenching because, you know, that’s our income. So every every calf that we lose, it pays in the end that it hurts our paycheck.”
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