Wolves continue to be a hot topic in Colorado with the movement growing to protect rancher’s livestock from wolf depredation. In February, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that a female wolf pup had been collared in the North Park area. The pup was one of a litter of six born to a female and male wolf that had migrated to Colorado from Wyoming. With the passing of Proposition 114 in Colorado to restore gray wolves in Colorado by the end of 2023 and with a recent ruling from a California U.S. District Judge to restore protection for gray wolves, a group of lawmakers are pushing back, led by Colorado’s Representative Lauren Boebert. Boebert, along with 23 additional members of Congress, sent a letter last week to the Department of the Interior urging the appeal of the recent decision by the California Judge to restore Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf. In the letter, the members of Congress detail their evidence that state and private conservation efforts have been “more than adequate in managing gray wolves at sustainable levels since de-listing.” Wolf populations in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have far exceeded the federal management objectives of 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs per state. There are approximately 3,000 gray wolves in the Rocky Mountain states: 1,543 in Idaho, 1,117 in Montana, and 327 in Wyoming. “The gray wolf is fully recovered, should remain delisted in the lower 48 United States, and should be managed by the States,” shares Boebert. “It’s really that simple. Some activist judge from California shouldn’t be able to overturn the best available science and contradict the law based on his own leftist political beliefs. The same career bureaucrats that worked at the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration that found the gray wolf is fully recovered are still working at the Department,” she continues. “The science hasn’t changed, and Secretary Haaland should appeal the unlawful decision by the California judge. I will continue to fight for our ranchers and to protect their livestock from these dangerous predators,” she concludes. A copy of the letter addressed to Department of the Interior Secretary Haaland is available on www.boebert.house.gov.
