A pair of wolves released in Colorado this week were part of a large Five Points wolf pack in Oregon that killed three livestock animals. Oregon wildlife officials allowed federal officials to kill four wolves in the Five Points pack in July and August.
John Williams, co-chairman of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association Wolf Committee, said once wolves begin depredating, they will likely continue to include livestock in their diets in the future. This does not mean that they always feed on livestock, nor does it mean that they do so on a regular basis. This means they know livestock is a viable and good source of food, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them predating when that happens.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife released five wolves captured in a remote corner of Grand County, Oregon, on December 18. Wildlife biologists have released five more Oregon wolves, four yearling females and one adult, on state lands in Grand and Summit counties over the past four days, the agency said late Friday. Male wolf. The locations are currently being kept secret.
As of the end of 2022, there were 12 wolves in the Five Points wolf pack in Oregon. Four wolves in the Five Points pack, including two adult females, one adult male and one yearling female, were killed in response to what Oregon officials called “chronic depredation of livestock.” The history of the recently released wolves was first reported by the Fence Post.
A male and a female sibling, both yearlings from the Five Points pack, were captured in Oregon on Dec. 17 and released the next day in Grand County. Both of the wolves released this week were yearlings, meaning they were likely born in April 2022 and were not skilled hunters when the Five Points pack killed livestock in northeastern Oregon this summer.
Travis Duncan of Colorado Parks and Wildlife said any wolf that comes near livestock will have some history of predation, “and that includes all wolf populations in Oregon.”
“This does not mean they have a long history of predation,” Duncan said in an email. “If a wolf population experiences infrequent depredation incidents, they should not be excluded from the source population under the (Colorado Wolf Recovery and Management) Plan.”
In September, Colorado Parks and Wildlife wolf reintroduction manager Reed DeWalt told the Colorado House Agriculture Committee that the agency was asking other states to allow the capture and relocation of wolves with no recent history of depredation.
“You can see what people are like. You can have these bad wolves,” DeWalt told the committee on September 12.
Committee Chairman Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, asked DeWalt and Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis if the only animals available were from predators. wolves, and whether the agency would choose not to introduce wolves.
DeWalt said introducing wolves from predatory wolf packs is not a good thing for the animals.
If we do that, says DeWalt, we’re setting ourselves up for failure.
Davis told the committee that other states without a history of killing livestock have enough wolves. Davis said wildlife managers in other states understand the consequences of wolves killing livestock.
“I can honestly say that none of us are causing trouble for each other,” Davis said. This will not make us successful and will feed into the narrative that wolves and ranch owners cannot coexist.
Oregon is the only state willing to contribute wolves to Colorado’s recovery efforts.
North Park ranchers are asking Colorado Parks and Wildlife to use lethal tactics to stop a pair of wolves that roamed from Wyoming and are linked to killing or injuring 20 cattle, lambs and working dogs since 2021 related. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials sent a letter to rancher Don Gittleson on Friday rejecting his request for the agency to kill wolves, saying attacks on livestock have declined this year because Many of the wolves that originally wandered into northern Colorado have returned to Wyoming.)
“I think everyone would be very disappointed if problem wolves were introduced before the end of the year,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village said at a Sept. 12 committee hearing. I really think it’s in everyone’s best interest that the wolf being introduced isn’t from a problem pack.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Michelle Dennehy said Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have the latest information on wolves in northeastern Oregon, including all information on depredation and lethal removal permits.
Target packages are determined by CPW, but ODFW provides all this information upfront, she said.
Duncan, director of public information for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said wildlife experts weigh a number of factors when deciding which wolves to relocate to Colorado, including the size of the pack, the movement of the pack and the number of times the pack has been killed. Performance after migration. The Five Points pack has not killed any livestock since four wolves were culled from the pack in late July and early August.
“Changes in group behavior and a decrease in current depredation met CPW’s criteria for accepting animals,” he said. “The CPW team in Oregon passed several larger and more accessible packs because they had recently experienced depredation or had A long or ongoing history of predation.”
Oregon officials killed at least 16 wolves linked to livestock depredations in 2023, compared with six in 2022. At the beginning of the year, Oregon counted 24 wolves and 178 wolves.
“We’re in a tough spot right now, and unfortunately, that’s what you signed up for,” said Williams of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. Wolves need two things: they need an abundance of ungulates for food; they need tolerant humans. Unfortunately, in your state, like ours, the tolerant people are in the cities, while the ranchers and rural people encounter the wolves.
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