By Tracy Ross | Colorado Sun
Grand County ranchers say three calves were killed by wolves in the month since they were given $20,000 to hire a range rider to protect their cattle, and they’re demanding more action from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. But CPW says there’s not enough proof to confirm wolves transplanted to Colorado were responsible for more than one of the three dead calves found on May 11 and remains unwilling to kill the large predators, according to ranchers.
The stockgrowers wrote yet another angry letter to CPW director Jeff Davis requesting wolf No. 2309 and wolf No. 2312 be removed from the Williams Fork River Basin. Their request, dated May 23, references a rule in the Colorado Wolf Restoration Plan that lays out certain conditions under which a wolf can be killed even in phase one of the plan, “when there are fewer than 50 wolves anywhere in the state for four consecutive years.”
Wolves captured in Oregon were released on Colorado’s Western Slope in December, as directed by voters. Five were placed in southwestern Grand County. Five others were released in Summit County. Since then, CPW has released maps each month showing the animals ranging into drainages south of Interstate 70 in Eagle County and to the Wyoming border and well into Larimer County in the north.