Public captures first images of Colorado's reintroduced wolves after December releases

The first images of one of Colorado's released wolves in the wild was captured Jan. 2 in Grand County.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed to the Coloradoan Jan. 10 the photo is of one of its released wolves.

That photo comes after a representative of Windler Ranch, located near Yampa in southern Routt County, said in a video on its Instagram page Dec. 22 that on Dec. 21 the family saw what they believe were four of the five wolves from Colorado's initial wolf release Dec. 18.

The ranch on Friday told the Coloradoan it reported the sighting and is awaiting the results of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife's investigation, including DNA samples of hair, to determine if what they saw were indeed wolves.

Kathryn Schlatter of Windler Ranch said in the Instagram video that Colorado Parks and Wildlife was at the ranch within an hour to investigate the sighting, answer questions and provide them with nonlethal hazing resources. Those included cracker shells, rubber bullets and bean bags, she said Friday.

Todd Schmidt told the Coloradoan on Thursday the photo of the wolf he took while driving to work Tuesday morning about 6 miles southeast of Kremmling and 5 miles from the initial release site is authentic.

The Kremmling business owner said he was driving along the Trough Road (Grand County Road 1) looking at bighorn sheep when a wolf ran across the road in front of his vehicle near Inspiration Point.

He said he pulled over and took photos with his cellphone out his back window of the wolf trotting through the sagebrush, but the images were "foggy."

That's when he said the wolf offered a better photo opportunity.

"When I stopped, it wasn't like he was hauling a-- like he'd seen a ghost," Schmidt said. "He just meandered up the hill, at one point just looked at me, then parked himself in the sun on the rock."

He said the wolf was about 20 yards from him, but factoring in the incline of the hill, he estimated it was less than 50 yards from him.

Schmidt said he took several photos of the wolf before it wandered off. He said it wore a collar and was by itself. The wolves released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in December were fitted with GPS satellite collars.

Schmidt said he tried to report the sighting, calling the Colorado Parks and Wildlife office in Kremmling. He was referred to the Hot Sulphur Springs office but then ran out of cell service and didn't report the sighting.

"I was just trying to do the right thing and make the call; I didn't know it was such a big deal," said Schmidt, who said he is against Colorado's reintroduction of wolves. "There are a lot of different opinions about wolves.''

He said he's been asked why he didn't shoot the wolf, to which he replied, "because I don't carry a firearm and don't want to get fined."

In Colorado, wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act and killing one without cause can result in a $100,000 fine and a year in prison.

Schlatter told the Coloradoan on Friday they saw three gray wolves and one black wolf, capturing the black one on a video. Colorado Parks and Wildlife's initial release included three gray and two black wolves.

The ranch also told the Coloradoan on Friday it would not share the video until after Colorado Parks and Wildlife's investigation and may not even after the investigation concludes.

Schlatter said they have not seen the wolves since their initial sighting. The ranch is located about 30 miles northwest of the initial Grand County release site.

She told the Coloradoan the ranch immediately after seeing the wolves checked their livestock, notified their neighbors and called Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

She said the Colorado Parks and Wildlife investigation included two wildlife officers examining tracks that "appeared to be from a large canine," taking DNA samples and watching the video the family shot of the wolf, which shows a black animal running in about 2 feet of snow on a ranch's property abutting theirs.

"Ranchers are concerned about how proactively the state will work with us and how much evidence we will need to verify sightings,'' she said. "Hopefully CPW will work with ranchers on this.''

CPW in an email response to the Coloradoan Jan. 9 said it is "limited to investigating and providing information based on what is provided via sighting forms, but it is not unreasonable to expect to see wolves moving in and around the Grand County and Summit County areas.''

The state wildlife agency released 10 wolves that were captured in Oregon as part of its initial reintroduction effort at various sites in Grand and Summit counties in late December.

The controversial release riled Colorado ranchers who claimed Colorado Parks and Wildlife reneged on its promise to avoid bringing wolves into the state that have been confirmed to have killed livestock in Oregon.

"They lied to our faces," Grand County rancher Gordon Lewis said of the state wildlife agency. "They told us if they dropped the wolves off, they would notify us and that hasn't happened. We are tired of this dog and pony show they are putting on."

Colorado Parks and Wildlife told the Coloradoan on Thursday in an email that it will not make staff available for an interview regarding its release of wolves in Grand County.

In a Wednesday email, the Coloradoan asked the agency if it would send news releases involving naturally migrating and released wolves' mortality, depredation, movement out of state or onto tribal lands or other significant events.

It responded none of those events have taken place since the wolves were released and added: "CPW is currently determining the regularity with which it will report on wolf-livestock depredation events and movement information for both released and naturally migrating wolves.''

Note: This story was updated throughout through Friday afternoon to reflect more details as they emerged.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado's released wolves photographed for first time after release