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Rising Livestock Losses Put Colorado Wolf Management Under Scrutiny
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The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Rising Livestock Losses Put Colorado Wolf Management Under Scrutiny

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan Colorado wildlife officials have killed four wolves in the past three months, including two Sept. 7, and wildlife officers are reported to be attempting to kill another wolf after a rash of livestock depredations spread over multiple counties. The latest two lethal removals were of two uncollared wolves, one from the Copper Creek pack in Pitkin County and one from the Three Rivers pack in Rio Blanco County, according to a state wildlife agency news release Sept. 8. Colorado has seen depredations spike, with 21 confirmed depredations in August, 13 in July and 51 this year as of Sept. 6., according to the agency's depredation page. The previous depredation high was 37 in 2025. Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimates the state has a ...
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Boebert Welcomes Trump Wolf Review as Colorado Ranchers Face Continued Losses
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Boebert Welcomes Trump Wolf Review as Colorado Ranchers Face Continued Losses

By Marianne Goodland The Denver Gazette President Donald Trump has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to launch a 90-day review on whether gray wolves and Mexican wolves should be removed from Endangered Species Act protections. The order drew mixed reactions for Colorado’s wolf-reintroduction effort, with ranchers and some state leaders calling it a step toward more flexible management, while wolf advocates argue it strips away key safeguards. If Burgum determines delisting or downlisting is warranted, the order said states would be encouraged to remove gray wolves and Mexican wolves from their own protected species lists and to loosen lethal-control standards to help ranchers respond to predation. The order also says the Interior Secretary...
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Colorado Records 17th Wolf Death After Livestock Attacks
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Records 17th Wolf Death After Livestock Attacks

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics   A yearling male wolf in Grand County has become the 17th wolf to die in Colorado in the past two years. Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that its staff killed the wolf on Aug. 4 because it was believed to be responsible for killing four calves in Jackson and Grand counties between June 29 and Aug. 1. The state agency’s announcement said the producers had pursued nonlethal measures to minimize conflict with the wolf. Ranchers have told Colorado Politics that those minimization efforts are ineffective. The wolf killed on Tuesday is the second mortality in 10 days. Another wolf had been found dead in northwest Colorado, according to a CPW announcement, but no further details were made available. READ THE FUL...
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Study adds evidence that wolves can cost Colorado ranchers beyond livestock losses
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Study adds evidence that wolves can cost Colorado ranchers beyond livestock losses

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The link below was sent in by a reader. It profiles a study out of University of California, Davis which purports to put a price on how much a single wolf in an area can cost a rancher. It’s right there at the top; the image heading this post is the title. I’ll leave it to you to read through the details of the study, note its methods, and come to your own conclusions on the validity of the estimate. For my part, I’m somewhat skeptical of the number itself. I do not at all doubt that wolves put economic costs on ranchers. I do doubt the exact figure and am skeptical in general about estimates.** Rather than looking in depth at the estimate and the method, however, I want to bring something to your attention. This...
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Ranchers Question Whether Wolves Are Changing Coyote Behavior Around Colorado Livestock
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Cowboy State Daily, Approved, Local

Ranchers Question Whether Wolves Are Changing Coyote Behavior Around Colorado Livestock

By Mark Heinz | Cowboy State Daily Ranchers in northern Colorado wonder if the growing wolf population is causing coyotes to be more aggressive toward livestock. "In 30 years of doing this, I’ve never seen anything like that," a rancher said about two coyotes attacking healthy livestock. A northern Colorado rancher who lives near one of the state’s reintroduced wolf packs said she and her neighbors are becoming increasingly frustrated because when wolves aren’t threatening livestock, coyotes are. Amanda Cerveny said she spotted and took video of a lone canine crossing her property near cattle. She thought at first it could have been a small or young wolf, but also thought it might be a coyote. Her latter suspicions were confirmed by biologist Doug Smith...
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Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The fight over Colorado wolves has landed in a federal review process. Opponents of wolf reintroduction are asking federal officials to reconsider Colorado's wolf program after submitting a report that claims Proposition 114 did not actually pass. Colorado Conservation Alliance filed the report June 5 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during a federal review of Colorado's gray wolf program. Michael Clark, chairman of Colorado Conservation Alliance and CEO of Petrox Resources, signed the submission. The filing takes aim at a message Clark says Coloradans have heard for years. "The message has been both constant and assertive, Colorado's wolf program is 'the will of the people' because Proposition 114 passed," Clark wrote to U.S. F...
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Colorado Ranch Hand Reportedly Shoots Wolf While Protecting Calves
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Approved, State, The Coloradoan

Colorado Ranch Hand Reportedly Shoots Wolf While Protecting Calves

By: Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan A ranch owner says her ranch hand shot and killed the King Mountain wolf pack mother, the Coloradoan has confirmed. The death will test the state's laws protecting the endangered predator, which only allows for the legal killing of wolves under certain situations. Ranch owner Susan Nottingham first confirmed the killing of the wolf to the Coloradoan in an interview June 1. The wolf was killed March 10 on the Nottingham Ranch, which spans 20,000 acres in northern Eagle and southern Routt counties. Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is leading an investigation into the wolf death and has not yet released details of the case. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE COLORADOAN
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Copper Creek Wolves Drive Majority Of Colorado Livestock Losses
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The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Copper Creek Wolves Drive Majority Of Colorado Livestock Losses

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan Beef, and mutton, are often what's for dinner for one Colorado wolfpack that has racked up a $700,000 tab, according to a review by the Coloradoan. The Copper Creek pack has been implicated in more than 60% of the state's confirmed depredations — 49 of 78 —since Colorado began reintroducing wolves in December 2023, a review of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's confirmed depredations records and ranchers' depredation claim filings shows. Those losses led to payouts by the state exceeding $700,000. That is greater than 40% of the total amount Colorado has paid for wolf depredations in that time. In total, the agency awarded ranchers more than $1.6 million in wolf depredation claims combined in 2024 and 2025. That's more than doub...
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Feds Open Public Comment Period On Colorado Wolf Reintroduction
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Feds Open Public Comment Period On Colorado Wolf Reintroduction

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is requesting public comment and information regarding Colorado’s gray wolf importation program. This request comes just months after the federal agency threatened to take over wolf management in Colorado due to ongoing problems. As previously reported by Complete Colorado, FWS sent an official warning to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) management saying Colorado violated the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by releasing 15 wolves in January 2025 without informing citizens. FWS also criticized CPW’s management of the Copper Creek pack, which has a history of livestock depredation, and which cost Grand County ranchers alone $450,000 in losses. On April 4, FWS issued ...
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Colorado Wolf Program Costs Taxpayers More Than $1 Million In Livestock Claims
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Wolf Program Costs Taxpayers More Than $1 Million In Livestock Claims

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics After paying more than $700,000 in March to ranchers for livestock lost to wolves, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission is poised to approve two additional claims totaling $262,000 at its meeting this week. Those approvals would bring total payouts to about $970,000 with another $56,000 in claims rejected across the March and May meetings. And that figure only reflects claims requiring commission approval. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) staff can sign off on claims under $20,000, and the state’s wolf‑depredation website shows that, in 2025, the agency received 32 such claims totaling $47, 142.55, ranging from $88.50 to $3,500. That’s a total of $1.072 million for 2025 alone. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT...
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