By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics
Jeff Davis, director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, walked into something of a wolf’s den on Saturday.
Nearly 100 people — ranchers, state and local elected officials, conflict resolution specialists, nonprofit staffers from pro-wolf groups, outfitters, media and representatives of the wildlife agency — traveled to the ranch of Don and Kim Gittleson, just north of Walden, to talk about the issue that has consumed people’s energies particularly after the state officially introduced wolves in December.
The Gittleson’s ranch and Jackson County have been ground zero for attacks on livestock and working cattle dogs. In four years, the state wildlife agency reported that 23 cattle, sheep and working dogs have been killed or injured by wolves that migrated from Wyoming. Gittleson lost 11 on his ranch, which sits just 12 miles south as the crow flies from the Wyoming state line.
Two of the original wolf pack that numbered around six are still in the area and still killing cattle, the most recent just a week ago, on a different Jackson County ranch.