Colorado Ranchers

June 11 CPW meeting highlights failure to share data: “Producers left in the dark”

The Fence Post, Approved, State / / , , , , , ,

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissioner Tai Jacober said it’s “ugly” right now for Pitkin County livestock producers.

In the June 11 CPW Commission meeting, he said when a particular pack of wolves, the Copper Creek pack, were causing problems for livestock producers, CPW and the commission made decisions that have landed the wolves and the producers again, in a problematic situation. Jacober criticized the decision to go “against the management plan and capture the wolves, went further against the management plan and rereleased the wolves, and here we are today.”

“Not only is it a blunder on the agency, it’s a blunder on the wolves, and it’s really difficult on the ranchers,” he said. “It seems we’ve removed one wolf — a yearling wolf that was kicked out of the pack, trying to survive — and I think we need to be accountable for a mistake that we made, putting this depredating pack back on the landscape and make a quick, fast discussion about how to move forward with clearly, unfortunately a bad pack of animals.”

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Wolf claims top $650K, but CPW records don’t add up

Colorado Politics, Approved, State / / , , ,

The state wolf compensation fund, set at $350,000 by statute last year, saw claims from 2024 that are approaching double that amount.

Data obtained through an open records request to Colorado Parks and Wildlife showed that the agency paid out $425,478.61 in claims.

But the information provided by the agency appears to exclude claims that were denied, recent claims paid and claims still awaiting final payments or settlements.

Wolf claims top $650K, but CPW records don’t add up Read More »

Fremont rancher’s cattle remain quarantined after 15 die mysteriously—county and state investigating cause

KOAA News, Approved, Local / / , , ,

COAL CREEK, Colo. (KOAA) — A rancher in Fremont County continues to seek answers as to why 15 cows died in one day.

News5 first reported the incident on March 21.

Since then, the rancher, Kerri Higgs, has been scrambling to learn the cause of the deaths from several tests.

Fremont rancher’s cattle remain quarantined after 15 die mysteriously—county and state investigating cause Read More »

CPW exterminates ‘Wolf 2405’ after four attacks in eight days killing livestock in Pitkin County

DENVER7, Approved, Local, State / / , , , ,

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have killed a gray wolf that was believed to be involved in a series of attacks that killed two livestock calves and injured three more calves and one cow in Pitkin County.

The series of attacks meets the agency’s criteria for “chronic depredation” that it finalized in January: three or more depredation events caused by the same wolf or wolves within a 30-day period, with “clear and convincing evidence” of at least one of the attacks.

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Multiple wolf attacks hit Western Slope ranchers—CPW accused of broken promises

The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local / / , , , , , , ,

Ranchers are calling multiple wolf attacks on cattle over Memorial Day weekend in Pitkin County “devastating” and evidence Colorado Parks and Wildlife is failing to keep its promise to alert ranchers when wolves are in range of their livestock.  

The attacks occurred over three days on the Crystal River Ranch, in the Crystal River Valley, and on the Lost Marbles and McCabe ranches, in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Multiple wolf attacks hit Western Slope ranchers—CPW accused of broken promises Read More »

Wolves roam, pups are born, riders deployed—but land-use plans still stuck in 2023

Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories / / , , , , , , , , ,

Wolves are roaming, ranchers are riding – but the rulebook hasn’t changed. Wolves are traveling farther, forming dens and producing pups. Many have turned up dead—especially in Wyoming, where wolves that prey on livestock can be killed on sight under state law. 

Yet not one federal or state land-use plan in Colorado has been updated since gray wolf reintroduction began in December 2023.

That’s the backdrop for Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s May 13 press release announcing that its Range Rider Program is fully operational and patrolling western Colorado. 

Eleven contracted riders hired by CPW have joined two staff from the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) to monitor livestock, haze predators and report signs of wolf-livestock conflict across nine counties.

Wolves roam, pups are born, riders deployed—but land-use plans still stuck in 2023 Read More »

Wolf reintroduction strains rural Colorado as payouts outpace budget

Westword, Approved, State / / , , , , ,

Colorado is eighteen months into the state’s wolf restoration project, and the teeth are still coming out.

So far, the state has paid over $370,000 in claims to ranchers who have been impacted by the presence of wolves near their operations. Although wolf advocates and detractors both agree that Colorado should compensate people for wolf-related losses, ranchers believe the funds are not enough to cover the full breadth of the impact of the carnivores in this state. Conversely, wildlife advocates question if some of the reimbursements that ranchers have claimed are a good use of taxpayer money.

Wolf reintroduction strains rural Colorado as payouts outpace budget Read More »

CPW tracks four suspected wolf dens, ranchers brace for more uncertainty

Post Independent, Approved, State / / , , , ,

For wolves, the beginning of May signals the end of denning season. 

While Colorado Parks and Wildlife is tracking up to four pairs of wolves that could be denning, none have been confirmed, according to Eric Odell, the agency’s wolf conservation program manager.

“We are monitoring one to three to four pairs of animals that could be denning,” Odell said at the May 7 meeting for the agency’s commission. 

The agency is “sussing out” these potential dens using data from the GPS collars that the majority of Colorado’s wolves are wearing.

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