With wolves in Colorado, here's everything you need to know: It's complicated
Miles Blumhardt, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Mon, January 31, 2022
The most polarizing predator of the West is back in Colorado, and recent kills by wolves have stoked the embers of emotions on the issue.
For the first time in eight decades, the state has a wolfpack whose six pups were born in Colorado.
That pack over the past month has killed three cows and a working cattle dog north of Walden in Jackson County, with the state's voter-approved reintroduction of wolves still a year away.
Emotions have heightened while ranchers, wolf advocates and state wildlife officials scramble on how to quell the killing. That anxiety has created a swell of misinformation and misconceptions on both sides of the issue, quieting the science of wolves' behaviors and impacts.
With that backdrop, here are answers to 10 frequently asked questions regarding wolves compiled from wolf experts, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Colorado State University's Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence.
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Where did the wolves in Colorado come from? Were they reintroduced?
The wolfpack was not reintroduced; the parents of the pack naturally migrated into the state from Wyoming over the past several years.
The pack consists of two adults and six young, which were born last spring. The female had a tracking collar on her from Wyoming, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife captured the male and attached a tracking collar.
Why are we reintroducing wolves if they are already in Colorado?
Wolves were eradicated in Colorado by the 1940s largely through shooting, trapping and poisoning.
There have been infrequent sightings of wolves in the state since then and no breeding packs in the state until last year, when the pair was discovered right around the time the measure to reintroduce wolves was working its way onto the ballot.
Some groups wanted to speed up the process to restore wolves to a sustainable level on the Colorado landscape, like what had been done in Wyoming and Idaho in 1995 when wolves were reintroduced there.
Supporters received enough signatures to get a wolf reintroduction measure on the 2020 ballot. Voters narrowly passed Proposition 114: 50.91% for and 49.09% against.
The measure requires the Colorado Parks and Wildlife to complete a plan that includes reintroducing wolves west of the Continental Divide no later than the end of 2023. It also mandates that landowners be compensated for livestock losses due to wolves.
Do wolves kill a lot of livestock?
Wolf depredation is a small economic cost to the livestock industry overall, but the impacts to individual ranchers can be substantial.
There are many ways to break down the data, depending on which numbers you use, but overall, an accurate percentage of loss of livestock to wolves is somewhere in the single digits.
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Why do wolves kill cattle and sheep instead of elk and deer?
The main prey base of wolves are elk, deer and moose, but wolves are opportunistic predators, meaning anything is on the menu if the amount of energy to kill it is rewarding.
Wolves are known to live among cattle and sheep and cause no harm. Other wolfpacks have found killing livestock is easier than killing wildlife. Experts agree that this learned behavior is difficult to break and can require killing (where legal) or removing all or part of the pack to address the issue.
In Colorado, where killing wolves is illegal except to protect human life and removal is considered a low-level option, various methods of nonlethal hazing of wolves are advocated. The effectiveness of these methods varies but usually lasts several weeks to several months before wolves move on or are no longer afraid of the devices.
Wolf depredation is a small economic cost to the livestock industry overall, but the impacts to individual ranchers can be substantial.
There are many ways to break down the data, depending on which numbers you use, but overall, an accurate percentage of loss of livestock to wolves is somewhere in the single digits.
Colorado controversy: Experts say wolf depredation on cattle needs urgent attention
Why do wolves kill cattle and sheep instead of elk and deer?
The main prey base of wolves are elk, deer and moose, but wolves are opportunistic predators, meaning anything is on the menu if the amount of energy to kill it is rewarding.
Wolves are known to live among cattle and sheep and cause no harm. Other wolfpacks have found killing livestock is easier than killing wildlife. Experts agree that this learned behavior is difficult to break and can require killing (where legal) or removing all or part of the pack to address the issue.
In Colorado, where killing wolves is illegal except to protect human life and removal is considered a low-level option, various methods of nonlethal hazing of wolves are advocated. The effectiveness of these methods varies but usually lasts several weeks to several months before wolves move on or are no longer afraid of the devices.
Will wolves wipe out our deer and elk herds?
Like in the livestock industry, in some areas where wolves exist at a sustainable population level, wolves have impacted deer, elk and moose populations. When this happens, it can have an economic impact on small communities and outfitters that rely on business from hunting.
At a statewide level, wolves are unlikely to have a major impact on overall deer, elk and moose populations or hunting opportunities in Colorado, based on evidence from northern Rocky Mountain states.
Colorado boasts the largest elk population of any state, with a stable number estimated at 287,000. The mule deer population is estimated to be 450,000, which is about 25% below what is desired. The moose population is about 3,000 and thriving.
Like in the livestock industry, in some areas where wolves exist at a sustainable population level, wolves have impacted deer, elk and moose populations. When this happens, it can have an economic impact on small communities and outfitters that rely on business from hunting.
At a statewide level, wolves are unlikely to have a major impact on overall deer, elk and moose populations or hunting opportunities in Colorado, based on evidence from northern Rocky Mountain states.
Colorado boasts the largest elk population of any state, with a stable number estimated at 287,000. The mule deer population is estimated to be 450,000, which is about 25% below what is desired. The moose population is about 3,000 and thriving.
Why are livestock owners who lose livestock to wolves compensated?
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is required by state statue to compensate ranchers and farmers for depredation by predators, such as coyotes, black bears, mountain lions and now wolves. It also compensates landowners for such things as hay eaten by elk and moose tearing down fences.
The ballot initiative required compensation to landowners for confirmed wolf kills of livestock. Funding for wolf depredation comes from the state's general fund, the Species Conservation Trust Fund, the Colorado Nongame Conservation and Wildlife Restoration Cash Funds or other sources from nongame species.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is required by state statue to compensate ranchers and farmers for depredation by predators, such as coyotes, black bears, mountain lions and now wolves. It also compensates landowners for such things as hay eaten by elk and moose tearing down fences.
The ballot initiative required compensation to landowners for confirmed wolf kills of livestock. Funding for wolf depredation comes from the state's general fund, the Species Conservation Trust Fund, the Colorado Nongame Conservation and Wildlife Restoration Cash Funds or other sources from nongame species.
How do they determine how much to pay a rancher for the loss of livestock?
That is the million-dollar question.
Generally, the rancher is paid market price.
Livestock owners point out the compensation doesn't pay them for the loss of young that could have been produced if a female is killed, reduction in birth rates and weight loss from wolves harassing their livestock. Others say that is the price of doing business where predators share the landscape.
That is the million-dollar question.
Generally, the rancher is paid market price.
Livestock owners point out the compensation doesn't pay them for the loss of young that could have been produced if a female is killed, reduction in birth rates and weight loss from wolves harassing their livestock. Others say that is the price of doing business where predators share the landscape.
Do wolves kill people and pets?
Wolves attacking or killing humans is extremely rare and infrequent for dogs.
Unless habituated to humans with food, wolves instinctively avoid humans.
There were no documented accounts of humans killed by wild wolves from 1900 to 2000, and few reports of wolves attacking people.
Wolves may have killed a person in Canada in 2005 and a woman jogging alone in a remote part of Alaska in 2010.
Since wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995, there have been no attacks on humans there despite annual visitation of 4.5 million people.
Wolves see dogs as competition to their territory and food supply and will aggressively attack and kill them, just as they will other wolves, coyotes, mountain lions and black bears.
Do wolves consume what they kill or do they kill for fun?
On average, wolves are successful when hunting wild game less than 20% of the time, and a wolf will consume approximately 7 to 10 pounds of meat per day.
On rare occasions, wolves eat only a portion of what is killed. And though rare, confirmed "surplus kills'' have been reported on elk and sheep. Surplus killing is when animals kill more prey than they can immediately eat and then cache or abandon the remainder.
Surplus killing by wolves is more common on domestic livestock than wild game, which have natural defenses against predators.
The leading theory of surplus killing behavior is it occurs usually in late winter, when prey are more vulnerable and easier to catch. Wolves are programmed to kill whenever possible, so they take advantage of an unusual killing opportunity.
Are wolves endangered?
Wolves are likely the most adaptable and thus among the easiest species to return to sustainable populations ever listed on the federal Endangered Species Act.
They were largely killed off in the contiguous U.S. by 1973, when they were added to the ESA. They were delisted in 2021 after their numbers exceeded 7,000, including more than 3,000 in western states.
More than 10,000 gray wolves live in Alaska.
The number of wolves in an area is largely determined by humans, which are the primary threat to their existence.
When the federal government delisted gray wolves, management within Colorado was transferred to Colorado State Parks and Wildlife. Wolves remain a designated endangered species in Colorado, and it is illegal to kill wolves in the state except to protect human life.
The penalty for illegally killing a wolf in Colorado is a fine up to $100,000, up to one year in jail and possible loss of hunting privileges for life.
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Dig deeper into Colorado wolf information
Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Visit https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/Wolves-in-Colorado-FAQ.aspx
Colorado State University: Visit https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/centerforhumancarnivorecoexistence/
Reporter Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life. Be it news, outdoors, sports — you name it, he wants to report it. Have a story idea? Contact him at milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Wolves in Colorado: An FAQ on attacks, behavior, environmental impact
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