RMEF Warns of Colorado Wolf Reintroduction Ballot Initiative

[TRnCO]

doesn't seem that they need any "reintroduction" to me, they're already here. So now, the feds need to step in and tell these people that are wanting to do a forced reintro that they are too late and that the Feds will be placing the existing wolves on the "federally protected" list and the state can then start forming a plan to manage them.

[ray1970]

I chuckled reading the article. Colorado is kind of a sanctuary state for wolves I guess.

[def90]

Interesting.. Because CPW is a Government agency and the wolf issue has been approved to be on the ballot they are no longer legally able to express an opinion one way or the other on the matter. Everyone that lives in Northern Co knows that wolves are already around. I know people that camp in the Mt Zirkel Wilderness area and they claim they have been hearing wolves up there for years as well as I know people that have heard them in the Flattops area. I wonder if this article is a news dump put out by CPW to maybe take some steam out of the wolf ballot or move the debate in a direction that will give them some authority of their own down the road? I mean if they suddenly declare they are here and go through the needed regulatory steps then the ballot initiative which removes their authority on management goes by the wayside. Could be a preemptive strike?

[sniper7]

If they get forced in, an immediate hunting season needs to be opened as well.

[def90]

More evidence that this all of a sudden realization that there are wolves in Colorado by CPW may be an end around to the forced introduction ballot initiative?

https://the-journal.com/articles/166143

[Gman]

DNA tests confirm 4 wolves are living in northwestern Colorado

Colorado Parks and Wildlife unveiled the results of genetics tests Thursday that confirm the presence of wolves — three females and one male related to each other — in the northwestern part of the state.

State biologists received a notice confirming that four scat samples collected last month near a scavenged elk carcass in Moffat County came from wolves. CPW officials said the evidence suggests the wolves, the first group documented in Colorado since the 1940s, likely are siblings. DNA testing did not determine ages.

“We don’t know where or when they were born,” CPW’s species conservation program manager Eric Odell said in a statement Thursday morning. “But that there are closely related wolves is a pretty significant finding.”

State wildlife officers investigating a cow carcass found evidence of at least six wolves, following an earlier report by hunters of a group wolves that agency biologists deemed credible.

And Gov. Jared Polis in January announced he was “honored to welcome our canine friends back to Colorado after their long absence.” Polis added that “it is important that people give them space.”

There may be more than four wolves, CPW officials said, and their agency is waiting to receive more DNA test results from scat samples collected in January.

[DavieD55]

It is not ideal to introduce wolves in Colorado. Sometimes endangered species and protected animals are used as a tool to take over and control private property too. Especially private property that holds valuable resources.

[TRnCO]

sounds like the pack of six was spotted again recently and have moved south a few miles from their last known location. Heard this on the radio earlier today.

[Gman]

If they know there are "some", then there are more than they think.

[JohnnyDrama]

If they know there are "some", then there are more than they think.

This article shows this.

https://news.yahoo.com/1st-gray-wolf...172425962.html